6.1 Agency sites provide publicly available reports
The New Zealand Web Standards 2.0 were released in March 2009 and replace the previous version, the New Zealand Government Web Standards 1.0 (below). See Meeting the standards for more information.
The Standard
6.1 Agencies provide on their web site(s) any publicly available reports that the agency is required to produce by statute. Refer to your communications department, legal teams or representative to determine what these reports are for your agency.
Guide to this standard
It is up to the agency to determine how long documents remain available on their web site(s). The Public Records Act has the General Disposal Authority (GDA3), which allows deletion/destruction of reproductions of documents where the original has been captured into the corporate record-keeping system. It is unlikely the web site(s) of an agency (or the underlying data store it utilises behind the web site(s)) is the sole repository and/or copy of a document. In such cases, it is expected that the agency have such documents under management with respect to archiving/record-keeping.
If this is not the case (the web site(s) and/or its respective data store being the sole copy of a document), then management of the document comes under the agency's record-keeping initiative, as required under the Public Records Act 2005.
Once documents have been removed (from the web site(s)), the agency may consider retaining metadata details of the documents and enabling such data to be available on the web site(s). The documents will still appear in searches (on the web site(s)); however, the mechanism for accessing them may not be online. For example, the agency may provide contact details and/or an online application form for interested users requesting access to the documents.
The National Library also keeps a record of reports that agency sites have made public. The National Library attempts to identify and capture these reports themselves. However, to assist the National Library with this process, agencies are encouraged to lodge a copy of such reports with the National Library.
Rationale for this standard
One of the principal foundations of the purpose for the New Zealand Web Standards is to provide economical and equitable access to information. This means that the NZ Government makes all public information available where feasible.
