0 Chapter 5: Options for Reform Law Commission Issues Paper public safety concerns, such as recall of dangerously faulty goods). the legislation should spell out when and how this residual discretion may be exercised.¹⁸⁴ 253 One of the advantages of requiring statements setting out the purpose of the register, particularly when a register is first being established, is that they assist in focusing the collecting agency on what information is actually required to be collected and held on the register. Identification of the purpose of the register also guides compliance with IPPs 2, 3, 9, 10 and 11, which refer to the purposes for which information was obtained and/or collected. 254 If purpose statements are prepared by Parliament, this approach allows a full debate at the time legislation is being designed or amended about the purpose for which the register is established, the need for public access to it, and various legitimate uses of a register that are in the public interest. Privacy and other interests in favour of withholding information can be identified and weighed against competing public interests in favour of access. this is important for democratic decision-making, especially where change is likely to be controversial, as the recent heated discussions about the births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment 255 An alternative to setting out the purposes of the register and the purposes of search in each statute would be to allow each agency to set the purpose of the public register it maintains, and to make such purposes an administrative rather than a statutory requirement. However, in our view it is preferable that this exercise is done at a Parliamentary level. Making purpose statements an administrative requirement to be carried out by the agency concerned limits the opportunity for consultation and debate about key issues. It also means that the right of search may not be clearly specified in the establishing statute. Setting out the purposes of access in the legislation is also consistent with the interests of transparency. 256 Another significant advantage of the approach preferred by the Privacy commissioner is that limited discretion is given to the register holder: the legislation itself determines access except in a minority of cases. t his increases the efficiency of handling of requests, and improves certainty f 257 However, purpose provisions may not be easy to articulate in relation to some public registers, or may be unnecessary in others, resulting in redundancy in the establishing legislation. Where purpose statements are too narrow, they may unduly restrict access to the register. Where they are too general, or are circular in nature, they provide little or nothing in the way of guidance, or a workable control mechanism. For example, section 22 of the charities Act 2005 states that the purpose of the register is: (a) to enable a member of the public to (i) determine whether an entity is registered as a charitable entity under this Act; and (ii) obtain information concerning the nature, activities, and purposes of charitable entities; and know how to contact a charitable entity; and (b) to assist any person (i) in the exercise of the personfs powers under this Act or 184   Ibid, para 3.4.