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From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date.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.

Is ID scanning legal under the Privacy Act?

Not in all cases.

If a business covered by the Privacy Act complies with all its legal requirements, then yes scanning your ID should be legal under the Act.

However, if that business doesn't comply with the Privacy Act, then scanning your ID could be illegal.

Example

If a business scans your ID when it doesn't need to collect that information to perform its functions, the scanning will be illegal.
If simply sighting your ID would be sufficient, the business should not scan it.

This answer is a summary only.

For more details, see our ID scanning information sheets:

Back to ID Scanning FAQs