All-Of-Government Shared Authentication Services, Given to Crown Agents by the Minister
of State Services and the Minister of Finance
Under Section 107 of the Crown Entities Act 2004
The following direction has come into force under section 109 of the Crown Entities Act 2004.
Under that section, a whole-of-government direction
given under section 107 comes into force 15 sitting days after it is presented to the House of Representatives unless the House resolves, in that period, to disapply the direction.
Direction regarding all-of-government shared authentication services
1. The Minister of State Services and the Minister of Finance, pursuant to section 107 of the Crown Entities Act 2004, direct all Crown agents as follows:
(1) before developing a proposal to invest in or build online credential management or identity verification capability as an alternative to using all-of-government shared authentication services (known upon the giving of this direction as the Government Logon Service and the Identity Verification Service), whether the proposal is to be funded from retained depreciation funding or from new funding, to consult with the State Services Commission; and
(2) if, after such consultation:
(i) the Crown agent still intends to invest in or build alternative online credential management or identity verification capability; and
(ii) the State Services Commission has not agreed, either in the individual case or by reference to a generic class consent, to the Crown agent investing in or building alternative online credential management or identity verification capability,
the Crown agent must obtain the approval of its responsible Minister and the Minister of State Services before taking action to implement the proposal,
unless any requirement in this clause 1 would be inconsistent with section 113 of the Crown Entities Act 2004.
2. For the purposes of this direction:
(1) “online credential management” means the use of logons, such as (but not limited to) passwords or
two-factor authentication, for ongoing confirmation of identity when accessing a secure online service, whether the service is made available to audiences external to the Crown agent or is only accessible to audiences within or serving the Crown agent itself;
(2) “identity verification” means the establishment and
re-confirmation of the identity and identity attributes of a person; and
(3) “generic class consent” means a decision, made by the State Services Commission, to grant consent to
a particular class of online service, application or
use-case for the purposes of clause 1(2)(ii) of this direction without the need to consider the individual circumstances of individual proposals falling within that class.
Dated at Wellington this 21st day of July 2008.
HON DAVID PARKER, Minister of State Services.
HON DR MICHAEL CULLEN, Minister of Finance.