Section 34 — Employment Relations Act 2000: Providing information in bargaining for collective agreement

34 Providing information in bargaining for collective agreement (1) This section applies for the purposes of section 32(1)(e) . (2) A request by a union or an employer to the other for information must— (a) be in writing; and (b) specify the nature of the information requested in sufficient detail to enable the information to be identified; and (c) specify the claim or the response to a claim in respect of which information to support or substantiate the claim or the response is requested; and (d) specify a reasonable time within which the information is to be provided. (3) A union or an employer must provide the information requested— (a) direct to the other; or (b) to an independent reviewer if the union or employer providing the information reasonably considers that it should be treated as confidential information. (4) A person must not act as an independent reviewer unless appointed by mutual agreement of the union and employer. (5) As soon as practicable after receiving information under subsection (3) , an independent reviewer must— (a) decide whether and, if so, to what extent the information should be treated as confidential; and (b) advise the union and employer concerned of the decision. (6) If an independent reviewer decides that the information should be treated as confidential, the independent reviewer must— (a) decide whether and, if so, to what extent the information supports or substantiates the claim or the response to a claim in respect of which the information is requested; and (b) advise the union and employer concerned of the decision in a way that maintains the confidentiality of the information; and (c) answer any questions from the union or employer that requested the information, in a way that maintains the confidentiality of the information. (7) Unless the union and employer otherwise agree, information provided under subsection (3) and advice and answers provided under subsections (5) and (6) — (a) must be used only for the purposes of the bargaining concerned; and (b) must be treated as confidential by the persons conducting the bargaining concerned; and (c) must not be disclosed by those persons to anyone else, including persons who would be bound by the collective agreement being bargained for. (8) This section does not limit or affect the Privacy Act 1993 . (9) Nothing in the Official Information Act 1982 (except section 6 ) enables an employer that is subject to that Act to withhold information that is required under section 32(1)(e) .