The Agreement on Enhancing Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Crime (the PCC Agreement) enables the United States and New Zealand to cooperate more closely in order to prevent and combat crime, primarily by sharing data more effectively between the two countries for law enforcement purposes. There are a number of privacy protections built into the agreement.

 Under the Agreement, the named Parties may exchange, on request, biometric and biographic data for the purpose of preventing, detecting and investigating offences that are punishable by a maximum term of more than one year’s imprisonment. The Agreement provides for the automated sharing of fingerprints on a match/no-match basis, with further information supplied if a match is found.  The Agreement provides for the possibility of sharing DNA data in the future, should both countries’ laws and technology allow. There are a number of privacy and data security protections built into the Agreement. In all cases, New Zealand authorities will ensure the enquiry meets criteria contained in domestic legislation before any information can be released. Data under the agreement cannot be provided to any third party state, international body or private entity without the consent of the country that provided the data.

 The Agreement builds on existing data-sharing agreements for immigration and law enforcement purposes between Government agencies, and will provide a number of advantages to New Zealand. Such sharing, as permitted by New Zealand law, enables law enforcement and border agencies to perform their functions, regardless of where the crime was committed or where the criminal is currently located.