diff --git a/Lib/zoneinfo/_common.py b/Lib/zoneinfo/_common.py
index 4c24f01bd7b270..1e4f3e517784e6 100644
--- a/Lib/zoneinfo/_common.py
+++ b/Lib/zoneinfo/_common.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ def load_tzdata(key):
     try:
         return importlib.resources.open_binary(package_name, resource_name)
     except (ImportError, FileNotFoundError, UnicodeEncodeError):
-        # There are three types of exception that can be raised that all amount
+        # There are some types of exception that can be raised that all amount
         # to "we cannot find this key":
         #
         # ImportError: If package_name doesn't exist (e.g. if tzdata is not
@@ -22,6 +22,19 @@ def load_tzdata(key):
         # UnicodeEncodeError: If package_name or resource_name are not UTF-8,
         #   such as keys containing a surrogate character.
         raise ZoneInfoNotFoundError(f"No time zone found with key {key}")
+    except (IsADirectoryError, PermissionError):
+        # A few exceptions inherited from OSError can be raised in various scenarios:
+        #
+        # IsADirectoryError: If the resource_name links to a directory
+        #   (e.g. Australia)
+        # PermissionError: If the resource_name links to a directory on Windows
+        #   (e.g. Pacific)
+        resource_path = importlib.resources.files(package_name).joinpath(key)
+
+        if resource_path.is_dir():
+            raise ZoneInfoNotFoundError(f"No time zone found with key {key}")
+        else:
+            raise
 
 
 def load_data(fobj):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-08-13-01-17-31.bpo-41530.WYqwKz.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-08-13-01-17-31.bpo-41530.WYqwKz.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..5aa6f5d809cca3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-08-13-01-17-31.bpo-41530.WYqwKz.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+zoneinfo ZoneInfo no longer raises IsADirectoryError or PermissionError when attempting to parse certain keys.
\ No newline at end of file