Privacy and FOI advice for the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more
Main menu
Close
- About us
-
Privacy
- For individuals
- For organisations and agencies
- Law
-
Freedom of information
- For individuals
- For agencies
- Law
- Information policy
-
Consumer Data Right
- For consumers
- For participants
- Law
Guidance and advice
RSS feedWe’ve developed these guides to help organisations and agencies comply with the Privacy Act 1988 and related subjects.
See also: APP Guidelines.
Key terms‘Administrative action’ means action taken in response to a match obtained through a data matching program that materially affects any individual or class of individuals, including, but not limited to:any action directly detrimental to an individual, such as reducing a benefit or imposing a penalty the initiation of an ...
5 May 2014
Download the posterAustralian Privacy Principle (APP) 1 requires private sector organisations and Australian Government agencies (called entities) to have a clearly expressed and up‑to-date privacy policy describing how they manage personal information. An APP privacy policy is a key tool for ensuring personal information is managed in an open and ...
5 May 2014
Download the print version from TroveBackgroundAustralian Privacy Principle 1Australian Privacy Principle (APP) 1.3 requires an APP entity[1] to have a clearly expressed and up-to-date APP privacy policy describing how it manages personal information.[2]An APP privacy policy is a key tool for meeting APP 1’s objective of ensuring that APP entities ...
Download the print versionBackgroundThe Australian Privacy Principles (APPs)[1] are legally binding principles that set out standards, rights and obligations in relation to handling, holding, accessing and correcting personal information. They apply to most Australian Government agencies[2] and some private sector organisations — collectively referred to as APP entities. Further guidance ...
27 September 2013
Download the print versionIssued under Part IIIB of the Privacy Act 1988 on 27 September 2013These guidelines cover the development, registration and ongoing administration of Australian Privacy Principles (APP) codes and the Credit Reporting (CR) code.Preliminary page The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) was established on 1 November ...
26 September 2013
Download the EDR Scheme Annual Reporting WorkbookThe Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) gives the Information Commissioner the discretion to recognise external dispute resolution (EDR) schemes to handle privacy-related complaints. These guidelines outline the conditions that must be met by EDR schemes to be recognised under the Privacy Act.Importantly, from 12 ...
Legally binding rules made under the My Health Records Act set out a healthcare provider organisation’s responsibilities in certain situations. This includes the My Health Records Rule 2016.It is important that healthcare provider organisations are aware of their responsibilities under these rules: this helps to make sure they have procedures ...
A legal framework of privacy protections has been established under Part VIIIA of the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) to protect COVID app data. Amongst other things, these legislative provisions:prohibit certain conduct; outline the limited purposes for which COVID app data may be collected, used or disclosed; require COVID app ...
Guidance and advice
RSS feedWe’ve developed these guides to help organisations and agencies comply with the Privacy Act 1988 and related subjects.
See also: APP Guidelines.
29 April 2021
When developing or reviewing a project, consider the need for a privacy impact assessment (PIA). A PIA identifies how a project can have an impact on individuals’ privacy and makes recommendations to manage, minimise or eliminate privacy impacts. We recommend that organisations conduct PIAs as part of their risk management and planning processes. While each project is different, a PIA should generally include the following 10 steps.
Tags:
privacy impact assessment
poster
16 April 2019
When a job applicant gives implied consent to a prospective employee contacting their referee and when a prospective employer must first get the applicant’s consent.
1 May 2019
An organisation with an annual turnover of less than $3 million that is a reporting entity under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act), or an authorised agent of a reporting entity, will also need to comply with the APPs in respect of their personal information handling activities in relation to the AML/CTF Act, regulations or the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules.
Tags:
anti-money laundering
The purpose of this resource is to provide tips on key issues that entities regulated by the Privacy Act should consider when assessing the privacy impacts of a remote working arrangement.
Tags:
privacy impact assessment
COVID-19
10 March 2021
An emergency declaration was made under the Privacy Act 1988 in response to bushfires in Australia resulting in death, injury and property damage occurring from August 2019 into 2020. It allowed personal information about people affected by the bushfires to be exchanged by Australian Government agencies and private sector organisations for specific purposes that may not otherwise be allowed under the Privacy Act.
Tags:
emergency
This resource assists Australian entities to understand the new requirements in the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation and how they can comply with Australian and EU privacy laws.
Tags:
GDPR
28 May 2019
If Centrelink sends you a formal written notice requesting certain information, and the notice states that you are required to provide the information by law, and also states the law under which you are required to provide that information, then you will need to comply.
28 May 2019
An Australian Government agency may use personal information to contact clients to conduct surveys, as long as certain requirements are met.