Recording job interviews in New Zealand: the Crimes Act, the Privacy Act and IPP 3A

In New Zealand, a participant may record their own conversation without committing the Crimes Act interception offence, which is aimed at recording private conversations you are not part of. But an organisation that records a candidate is bound by the Privacy Act 2020, and the Privacy Commissioner says it is "generally unfair" to record a meeting without letting the other person know. As of October 2026, recruiters should tell candidates, ask before recording or transcribing, give them a copy if they ask, and note that a new principle, IPP 3A, applies from May 2026 when employers receive interview notes from an agency.

This page adds New Zealand to our country series alongside Australia, Canada, Germany and the UK. Unlike Australia, New Zealand has one national rule, so a recruiter covering Auckland and Christchurch does not need a region-by-region table.

New Zealand's rules at a glance

Is it legal to record a job interview in New Zealand?

The criminal question has a short answer. The interception offence in Part 9A of the Crimes Act 1961 (section 216B) is aimed at people who intercept private communications they are not party to. The OPC puts it this way in its guidance on recording someone without telling them: "recording a private conversation that you're not involved in could, depending on the circumstances, be a crime." A recruiter recording their own interview is involved in it.

The privacy question is where New Zealand gets specific. The same OPC page says that if you record "on behalf of an organisation, the general rules about collection of personal information will apply," and that "it might be unfair to record someone without telling them." Its guidance on recording a meeting with a client is more direct: "you need to be upfront and tell them," because "it would also be generally unfair to record a meeting without letting the other person know." And on recording a meeting with an employee, the OPC says "it is best to voice record a meeting with consent" and that covert recording is hard to justify "since there is a strong presumption that it is unfair."

What does the Privacy Act require when you record?

• IPP 4: a fair method. IPP 4 says personal information may be collected only by lawful means and by means that are fair and do not "intrude to an unreasonable extent upon the personal affairs of the individual concerned." A recording holds "far more detail than simply taking notes," as the OPC notes, so be ready to explain why you need it.
• IPP 3: tell the candidate. When collecting directly, take reasonable steps so the person knows why it is being collected, who will receive it, whether giving it is compulsory or voluntary, and what happens if they do not provide it (OPC summary).
• IPP 5: keep it secure. Recordings and transcripts on shared drives or in personal mailboxes are the usual weak point.
• IPP 9: keep it only as long as needed. The principle says an agency "must not keep that information for longer than is required for the purposes for which the information may lawfully be used." One of the OPC's listed case notes involves a recruitment agency that failed to remove all personal information from an old profile.

The OPC's answer on recording workplace phone calls shows the expected standard: recording is fine, but people should be "advised at some point that the calls are being recorded." For interviews, "at some point" should mean before you start.

Does IPP 3A change anything for recruitment agencies?

Yes. Information privacy principle 3A, which the OPC says "came into force in May 2026," applies when an agency collects personal information "indirectly," from someone other than the person. It must then take reasonable steps so the person knows that the information has been collected, the purpose, the intended recipients, the name and address of the collecting and holding agencies, any law that authorises the collection, and their right to access and correct it. The OPC notes that "the obligation to inform the individual sits with the agency that collects the information indirectly."

In recruitment, the client employer that receives a submittal, interview notes or a transcript from a recruitment agency is collecting indirectly. One listed exception is that the person has already been made aware. The cleanest fix is for the agency's notice and consent line to say plainly that interview notes will be shared with the named client for this role, so the candidate already knows when the employer receives them.

Can candidates get a copy of the recording?

Yes. The OPC says that when an organisation records, "participants in the recording will be entitled to request a copy of the recording." Requests are handled under IPP 6 and Part 4 of the Act, and an agency should not usually charge for access.

The withholding ground recruiters ask about is evaluative material. Under section 50, an agency may refuse access to evaluative or opinion material compiled solely to determine a person's suitability "for employment or for appointment to office," but only where disclosure "would breach an express or implied promise" made to the person who supplied it that it would be held in confidence. The OPC's example is a job referee. It does not cover the candidate's own recorded answers, and it does not automatically cover your interviewers' notes. Our candidate data access requests guide covers the workflow.

What about overseas tools and hiring managers?

IPP 12 controls disclosure to a foreign person or entity. The discloser needs one of several grounds, including that the recipient is carrying on business in New Zealand and subject to the Act, that it is subject to comparable privacy laws, or the person's authorization "after being expressly informed" that the recipient may not protect the information with comparable safeguards. The OPC's sending information overseas page offers model contract clauses and an agreement builder for this.

For AI note takers, the OPC's IPP 12 decision tree contains the key exception: principle 12 does not apply "where the personal information is sent to an agent for storage or processing and the agent does not use or disclose the information for its own purposes." A transcription vendor that only processes for you falls there; one that trains its own models on your recordings does not. The OPC also says it does not endorse AI providers and that agencies should do a privacy impact assessment before using AI tools on personal information (OPC guidance on AI).

Interview Signal, for example, shows a read-aloud consent line with a one-click pause, puts no bot into the call, and does not retain audio after transcription; transcripts stay on the interviewer's computer and are still personal information under the Act. If you interview from the US, your own state's recording law also applies to your side of the call; see two-party consent states.

A consent line for interviews in New Zealand

"Kia ora. Before we start, I'd like to record and transcribe this call
so I can focus on our conversation and keep an accurate record for
assessing your application. [For agencies: I'll share my notes with
(client) for this role.] It's kept for [period] after a decision, and
you can ask for a copy. Is that okay with you? You can say no, or ask
me to stop at any time, and it won't affect your application."

The bracketed agency line is what makes the client's IPP 3A obligation easy to meet. More wording is in the interview recording consent script.

Checklist before you record interviews in New Zealand

• Candidate told and asked before recording or transcription starts.
• IPP 3 items covered: why, who receives it, voluntary, what happens if they decline.
• Agency submittals: the candidate told which client will receive notes, so IPP 3A is covered.
• Process to provide copies of recordings and transcripts on request, free of charge in most cases.
• Retention period set under IPP 9, and old profiles fully cleared.
• Privacy impact assessment done for any AI tool; vendor confirmed as an agent that does not use data for its own purposes, or IPP 12 safeguards in place.

More countries: Japan, Singapore and India.