New Zealand: Adopted New Zealand Digital Identity Services Bill establishing accreditation regime

On 29 March 2023, the New Zealand Parliament adopted the New Zealand Digital Identity Services Bill on third reading. The Bill provides for the establishment of an accreditation regime for digital identity service providers, which are defined as services that allow users to share personal or organisational information as part of a transaction. While participation in the accreditation regime is not mandatory, participants will be able to use accreditation marks (called trust marks in earlier versions of the legislation) to identify the fact that they are providing accredited services. Certain rules will apply to accredited services, such as a restriction on the collection, use and sharing of personal or organisational information, among others. The Bill has been sent to the Governor-General to be formally signed into law.