Security Advice · CCTV
Can Your CCTV Record Audio? The New Zealand Rules
Nearly every camera sold today has a microphone, and most of them arrive with it switched on. That single default is the most common way an otherwise careful CCTV system quietly crosses a line that has nothing to do with privacy law and everything to do with the Crimes Act.
The short answer
- Video and audio are governed by different laws. Video is a Privacy Act question. Audio can be a criminal one.
- The test is whether you are a party to the conversation. Recording one you are not part of is the problem.
- Most cameras ship with the microphone enabled. Check it before anything else.
- For a business, clear notice changes the picture – a conversation nobody could expect to be private is a different thing in law.
- Staff areas are where businesses get caught: break rooms, not the shop floor.
First, the honest disclaimer
This is a practical installer’s summary, not legal advice. We commission camera systems for a living and this question comes up on almost every commercial job, so it is worth writing down properly. For the privacy side the authority is the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, which publishes specific CCTV guidance and runs a complaints process. For the audio side the relevant law is the Crimes Act, which is a different thing entirely – and if you are already in a dispute, or you are contemplating recording staff, that is a conversation for a lawyer rather than for us.
Why audio is not just “video with sound”
People reasonably assume the rules that cover their cameras cover their microphones too. They do not, and the gap is the single most important thing on this page.
- Video is dealt with under the Privacy Act 2020. You are collecting personal information, so you need a genuine purpose, reasonable notice, sensible retention, and you have to hand footage over when someone asks for their own. It is a civil framework, and getting it wrong usually means a complaint.
- Audio can engage the Crimes Act 1961. Intentionally intercepting a private communication using a device, when you are not part of that conversation, is a criminal offence rather than a privacy breach.
That is a different order of seriousness, and it is why we treat the microphone setting as a commissioning decision rather than a preference. Everything else about camera placement and the privacy rules is covered in the privacy rules on CCTV in NZ; this page is only about the sound.
The question that actually decides it: are you in the conversation?
The distinction the law draws is not about whether you own the building, or the camera, or the land. It is about whether you are a party to the communication being recorded.
- A conversation you are part of. Recording it is generally lawful – this is why recording your own phone call is not an offence in New Zealand, and why a video doorbell capturing a conversation you are having through it sits comfortably.
- A conversation between other people that you are not part of. This is the one the law is aimed at. A microphone under an eave picking up what two people are saying to each other in the next yard is the textbook case.
A CCTV microphone is almost never a party to anything. It sits there recording whoever happens to walk past, which is precisely the situation that turns an ordinary camera install into something much more awkward than the owner intended.
What “private” means, and why notice changes it
The offence applies to a private communication. The definition matters, and it contains the route that makes lawful audio possible for a business: a communication is not private if it happens in circumstances where any party to it ought reasonably to expect that it might be intercepted.
In plain terms – if it is genuinely obvious to everyone involved that they are being recorded, the conversation is not the kind the law is protecting. That is a real distinction and it is doing a lot of work on commercial sites. But it is not a magic word, and two things follow from it:
- The notice has to be real. A sign that says “CCTV in operation” says nothing about sound. If you are recording audio, the signage needs to say so, at the entrance, before someone is in range.
- It is fact-specific. Whether an expectation was reasonable depends on where the microphone is, what the signage says, and who was talking. It is not a box you tick once and stop thinking about.
This is also why audio is one of the few areas where we will actively push back on a client’s design. Video in a marginal position is a placement conversation. Audio in a marginal position is a legal one.
Where businesses actually get caught
Almost none of the trouble we see comes from the obvious places. A microphone over a retail counter, with a clear sign at the door saying audio is recorded, is a defensible setup. The problems come from the rooms nobody thought about when the system went in.
| Position | Risk | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Reception or a service counter | Usually manageable | Transactional, public-facing, and easy to sign properly at the entrance |
| Shop floor | Usually manageable | Same – as long as the signage mentions audio, not just cameras |
| Staff room or break room | High | This is where people have private conversations and reasonably expect to. Signage does not really cure it |
| Meeting rooms and offices | High | Commercially sensitive, and often conversations the recorder is not part of |
| Toilets and changing areas | Do not | Not a judgement call, with or without sound |
| Outdoor camera near a boundary | High | Picks up the neighbours, who have consented to nothing and been told nothing |
| Gate or door intercom | Fine | You are a party to the conversation, and that is the entire purpose of the device |
The break room is the one worth re-reading. It feels like the inside of your own business, so it feels like your call – but it is the room where staff most reasonably expect a private conversation, and it is where a microphone is hardest to justify. The rest of what changes for a commercial site is in what changes when the premises is a business.
Recording staff is a third set of rules again
If the microphone is pointed anywhere staff work, you have moved beyond both the Privacy Act and the Crimes Act into employment law. Employers and employees owe each other good faith, and covert monitoring sits badly with that obligation regardless of what the other two regimes say.
The practical version: if you genuinely need to record audio in a workplace, it should be disclosed, it should be in the employment agreement or a workplace policy, there should be a specific reason you can articulate, and it should be proportionate to that reason. Covert audio recording of staff to resolve a suspicion is the version that goes badly, and it is the version we get asked about most. That is a question for an employment lawyer before it is a question for an installer.
When audio is genuinely worth having
None of this means microphones are useless. There are positions where audio is the point of the device and nobody is surprised by it:
- Gate and door intercoms. Two-way, obvious, and you are part of the conversation.
- Video doorbells. Same logic – the person pressing it knows exactly what it is.
- A counter or till position, with signage at the entrance that actually mentions audio, where the reason is disputes about transactions.
- Duress or panic points, where the whole purpose is to capture what is being said in an incident.
What those have in common is that the audio has a specific, statable job. That is the test we apply on a site walk: if you cannot say what the microphone is for in one sentence, it goes off.
What we do at commissioning, and what to check on your own system
Our default on every install is audio disabled, switched on only where there is a reason of the kind above. If you have a system somebody else put in, or you set one up yourself, this is worth ten minutes:
- Check each camera individually. Audio is a per-camera setting on most NVRs, and the default is frequently on. A system where you disabled it once on the first camera is not a system with audio off.
- Check the recording setting, not just the live one. Some systems mute live playback while still writing audio to the drive.
- Look at what is actually within range – a boundary, a neighbour’s deck, a staff area – rather than at where the camera is pointed. Microphones do not have a field of view.
- If you are keeping audio anywhere, fix the signage so it says audio, at every entrance, before anyone is in range.
If you are not sure what your recorder is doing, that is a reasonable thing to have checked on a servicing and repairs visit – it is a five-minute job on an existing system and it removes an entire category of problem. If you are specifying a new system, which cameras are worth buying covers the hardware side and how many cameras you need covers coverage.
Common questions
Is it illegal to record audio on a security camera in NZ?
It depends on whose conversation it is. Recording a conversation you are a party to is generally lawful. Intentionally intercepting a private communication between other people using a device is an offence under the Crimes Act, and a CCTV microphone is almost never a party to anything, which is why the default should be off.
Can my business record audio if we have CCTV signage?
Signage helps, because a communication is not private where the parties ought reasonably to expect it might be intercepted – but the sign has to actually mention audio, be at the entrance, and be visible before someone is in range. Generic “CCTV in operation” signage does not cover sound, and signage does not make a staff break room acceptable.
Do security cameras record sound by default?
Most cameras with a microphone do, yes. It is usually a per-camera setting rather than a system-wide one, so disabling it on the first camera does not disable it everywhere. It is the first thing we check when we take over someone else’s system.
Can I record audio of my employees?
That goes beyond privacy law into employment law, where employers owe a duty of good faith. If there is a genuine need it should be disclosed, covered by a policy or the employment agreement, specific, and proportionate. Covert audio monitoring of staff is the version that goes wrong, and it is worth legal advice before rather than after.
What about my video doorbell – is that a problem?
Generally no. You are a party to the conversation someone is having with you through it, which is exactly the situation the law leaves alone. The caution is a doorbell positioned so it also picks up conversations on a shared path or a neighbour’s property when nobody is talking to you.
Can I record a conversation I am part of?
Yes. New Zealand allows a party to a conversation to record it, which is why recording your own phone call is not an offence. What you then do with that recording can still raise other issues, but the act of recording it is not the problem.
Not sure what your cameras are recording?
We can check the audio settings on an existing system, whoever installed it, and tell you what is actually being written to the drive. Free site assessment across Auckland.