Tatauranga/Stats NZ says it won't prosecute people who didn't take part in the national census this year.
Simon Mason, deputy chief executive of census and collections operations, announced the decision on Wednesday.
"We routinely undertake due diligence before starting any process seeking the prosecution of individuals for not completing the census," he said.
When they did their due diligence, staff found a mistake in how the Data and Statistics Act (2022) was applied.
"We accept that we needed to be more specific with respondents," Mason said.
Under the 2022 Act, a 'request for data' needs to state:
- The section the request falls under;
- The final date to respond by; and
- The consequence of not complying (e.g. a fine or prosecution).
"We did not meet all the requirements of the Act in detail, and as a result have decided not to proceed with prosecutions for the 2023 Census."
Tatauranga/Stats NZ staff normally "seek to prosecute" 30 to 60 people who refuse to fill in the census.
Fines can be up to $2000.
Other prosecutions typically arise for threatening census staff, or encouraging others not to do the census.
But Mason said it wasn't in the public's interest to issue another "request for data" because 89 to 91 percent of people in Aotearoa filled out their forms on Census Day.
"This is enough data to provide us, the government, iwi, communities, and businesses with an invaluable snapshot of life in Aotearoa New Zealand."
The decision won't affect data quality when census results are published in 2024 and beyond, Mason confirmed.
"We are undertaking an internal review to understand how we fell short of meeting all aspects of the legislative requirements of our new Act, to learn from it and take action to ensure it does not happen again."
