This member's bill amends the Companies Act to let certain directors request that their residential address on the public Companies Register be replaced with an address for service. As reported back from select committee, it applies to directors who are also shareholders, and extends to shareholders in the same household as a director.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
This bill amends the Companies Act 1993 to let company directors keep their residential address off the public Companies Register. At present directors must supply a home address that anyone can look up. Under the change, a director with genuine personal-safety concerns can apply to substitute an alternative address for service, and the Registrar removes the residential address from publicly available records. It is aimed at directors worried about harassment, stalking or violence, including small-business owners and community volunteers.
It is a member's bill from Labour list MP Deborah Russell. The argument in favour is that publishing home addresses can expose directors to real safety risks, and that privacy protections bring New Zealand into line with practice in comparable countries. The argument against is that the register exists for transparency and accountability so people can identify and formally serve directors, and that broad address suppression could make it harder to hold directors to account or track down wrongdoers unless safeguards are tight.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.