3:59 PM (4 minutes ago)

Directors call for privacy of home addresses

Media release 23 March 2018

The recent leafleting of Lyttelton residents with the home addresses of company directors on the Lyttelton Port Company shows the urgent need for protections to be made around directors’ home addresses, says the Institute of Directors (IoD).

“Directors, like all people have a right to privacy and to feel safe in their own homes,” says Kirsten Patterson, chief executive of the IoD.
“Leafleting of directors’ residential addresses to the community is inappropriate and could be perceived as threatening. Home should be a sanctuary for people and their families.

“The resolution of workplace issues should occur at work, and every person should have the right to privacy at home.

“This incident also highlights the broader issue that directors’ home addresses are currently publicly available to anyone online”.

Directors’ home addresses can currently be accessed online through the Companies Register. The availability of this information can contribute to inappropriate behaviour that puts directors’ personal safety at risk.

“While it is possible that someone could find directors’ addresses if they were very determined, we believe that the Companies Register should remove residential home addresses and provide an alternate such as a service address. This would mean directors could be contacted in a professional capacity whilst protecting their privacy and safety.”

The 2017 IoD Director Sentiment Survey found that 79% of members would prefer to publish a service address rather than a residential address on the Companies Register. At the time a Stuff poll found that 67% of the public supported directors’ home addresses being made private.

The IoD has been actively advocating since 2016 for greater protection for directors’ home addresses, and has made submissions to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on alternative solutions to the current practice that do not hinder the need for accountability and transparency.

Further information on the IoD’s submission on directors’ residential addresses is available here and here.

About the IoD: The IoD is a membership organisation dedicated to professionalising governance in New Zealand. With more than 8,500 members, it is a Not-For-Profit Incorporated Society with eight branches across New Zealand, and members drawn from listed issuers, large private organisations, small and medium enterprises, not-for-profits and charities. For more information about the Institute of Directors visit: www.iod.org.nz.

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