Is It Legal to Record Phone Calls in NZ? A Business Guide

In New Zealand, a business can generally record its own phone calls, because the law that criminalises intercepting private conversations does not apply to someone who is a party to the conversation. But being allowed to record is not the same as being allowed to record quietly. The Privacy Act 2020 treats a business recording a call as collecting personal information, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's guidance is that people should be told. This guide explains both laws in plain English, and what a sensible recording notice looks like.

This is general information, not legal advice. If your situation is unusual, talk to a lawyer or contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

Two laws apply

Call recording in New Zealand sits under two pieces of legislation:

• The Crimes Act 1961, which makes it an offence to intercept private communications in some circumstances.
• The Privacy Act 2020, which governs how businesses collect, use, store and disclose personal information, including recordings and transcripts.

The first decides whether recording is a crime. The second decides what you have to do to record properly.

The Crimes Act: a party to the call can record it

Section 216B of the Crimes Act 1961 (reprint as at 8 August 2026) says that everyone "is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years who intentionally intercepts any private communication by means of an interception device." That sounds like it rules out recording. It does not, because of the exception that follows.

Subsection (2) says the prohibition "does not apply where the person intercepting the private communication is a party to that private communication." When your business answers a call and records it, your business is a party to that call. The same applies when a receptionist, an employee, or an AI receptionist working for your business answers it.

What the Crimes Act does prohibit is recording a private conversation you are not part of. Leaving a device running in a meeting room you have left, or recording calls between two other people, is a different matter and can be a crime. The Privacy Commissioner's guidance makes the same point: recording a private conversation that you are not involved in "could, depending on the circumstances, be a crime."

The Privacy Act: tell people, and handle the recording properly

The Privacy Act 2020 applies to "agencies", which includes businesses of every size. Individuals recording for their own domestic or household purposes have an exemption. The Privacy Commissioner's guidance on recording someone without telling them says that recording "may breach the Privacy Act but this will depend on the circumstances", that the household exemption does not apply if the recording would be "highly offensive to a reasonable person", and that if you are recording on behalf of an organisation, "it might be unfair to record someone without telling them."

Two of the information privacy principles do most of the work here:

• Principle 3 is about telling people what you collect and why. The Commissioner's guidance on agencies recording people says agencies must generally inform people when collecting their personal information, with narrow exceptions such as where telling them would undermine the purpose of collecting it or endanger someone's safety. Neither exception is likely to apply to routine business calls.
• Principle 4 is about collecting information fairly and lawfully. Covert recording is hard to describe as fair when a short notice would have done.

The practical reading for a business is simple. You can record. Tell callers you are doing it, tell them why, keep the recordings secure, keep them only as long as you need them, and give people access to their own information if they ask.

What "telling callers" looks like

A recording notice belongs at the very start of the call, before the caller says anything personal. It does not need to be long. It should say that the call is recorded, what for, and how to find out more.

Kia ora, you've reached Harbour Plumbing. Calls are recorded so we get your job details right. How can we help?

Thanks for calling Northside Dental. This call is recorded for training and to keep an accurate record of your booking. Our privacy policy is on our website.

If a caller says they do not want to be recorded, decide in advance what happens. Options include offering an unrecorded callback, taking the enquiry by email, or letting them know the call cannot continue unrecorded. Whatever you choose, make sure staff and your phone system apply it consistently.

Recording staff calls

Recording calls your staff make or take adds employment law into the mix. Tell staff in writing that calls are recorded and why, put it in your policies, and get advice before using recordings for anything beyond the purpose you stated. This guide does not cover workplace monitoring in detail.

Storage, access and deletion

Once you have a recording, the rest of the privacy principles apply to it like any other personal information:

• Keep it secure. Recordings and transcripts should sit behind a login, not in a shared inbox.
• Keep it only as long as you need it. Decide a retention period that matches why you record, and delete on schedule.
• Use it for the reason you gave. If you said "to get your job details right", do not use recordings for marketing.
• Give people access. A caller can ask what you hold about them, including a recording of their own call.
• Know who else can hear it. If a provider processes recordings for you, understand where the data goes and on what terms.

What this means if an AI answers your phone

AI receptionists such as KiwiAgent work by transcribing the caller's speech in real time and generating spoken replies. Every call produces a recording, a transcript, and a summary for the business. Three things follow:

1. Your business is the collector. The caller is giving their details to you. KiwiAgent processes the call on your behalf, which is how our privacy policy describes it.
2. Put the notice in the greeting. You write the AI's greeting, so add the recording notice there. It is the same sentence a human receptionist would say. Our greeting scripts include versions with the notice built in.
3. Set your retention. On KiwiAgent, recordings and transcripts are kept for 30 days on Starter, 90 days on Pro, and until you delete them on Business and Enterprise. You can delete a call record at any time.

Being upfront that the caller is talking to an AI is separate from the recording notice, but it belongs in the same breath. Callers handle both well when they are told plainly.

A short checklist

1. Decide why you record, in one sentence.
2. Put a notice at the start of every recorded call that says calls are recorded and why.
3. Decide what happens if a caller objects, and apply it consistently.
4. Mention call recording in your privacy policy.
5. Set a retention period and delete on schedule.
6. Keep recordings behind a login and limit who can listen.
7. If staff calls are recorded, tell staff in writing.

Sources

• Crimes Act 1961, section 216B: Prohibition on use of interception devices (New Zealand Legislation, reprint as at 8 August 2026)
• Can I record someone without telling them? (Office of the Privacy Commissioner, AskUs)
• Can an agency make a video or audio recording of me without telling me? (Office of the Privacy Commissioner, AskUs)

Checked on 8 September 2026. Laws and guidance change. This article is general information, not legal advice.