Site Changes

On 1 November 2010 the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was integrated into the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and a new website established at www.oaic.gov.au.

Note 1: Major changes to the Privacy Act 1988 will come into effect in March 2014. Agencies, businesses and not for profits need to start preparing for these changes. For more information go to our privacy law reform page at www.oaic.gov.au
Note 2: From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date. For new privacy content visit the www.oaic.gov.au website.

Do the new private sector provisions (National Privacy Principles) apply to local councils or State or Territory governments?

No. The private sector provisions do not apply to local councils or State or Territory governments.

The National Privacy Principles (NPPs) only apply to 'organisations'. Section 6C of the Privacy Act states that entities which are State or Territory authorities or prescribed instrumentalities of a State or Territory (which include local councils) are not organisations. As these entities are not organisations they are exempt from the coverage of the NPPs.

Some States have privacy laws that cover State and local government bodies. For more information please visit the Business Section of this website for a summary of Australia's privacy laws.