For the purposes of the Privacy Act 2020 (PA 2020), information about an identifiable individual (section 7, PA 2020). The information does not need to name the individual if they are identifiable in another way, such as through their address or email address.

Examples of content that can contain personal information are notes, emails and scans; whether in hard copy or electronic form.

The PA 2020 came into force on 1 December 2020, repealing and replacing the Privacy Act 1993. For an overview of New Zealand's privacy law regime, see Practice note, New Zealand privacy laws.