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From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date.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

How do we comply?

Australian, ACT and Norfolk Island government agencies must comply with the Information Privacy Principles or ‘IPPs' in the Privacy Act. The IPPs set out how agencies may collect, use, store and disclose personal information.

We provide plenty of guidance material to help you comply with the IPPs:

Find out how to comply with the IPPs by reading our IPP Guidelines:
Guidelines to the Information Privacy Principles 1 - 3
Guidelines to the Information Privacy Principles 4 - 7
Guidelines to the Information Privacy Principles 8 - 11
Planning a project or initiative that may involve the handling of personal information? You may want to do a privacy impact assessment. Our Privacy Impact Assessment Guide will help.
If your agency has suffered an information security breach, you should take appropriate action to mitigate associated risks. Check out our Guide to Handling Personal Information Security Breaches.
Want some general tips on good privacy practice and how to comply with the Privacy Act? Take a look at 10 steps to protecting other people's personal information.
See how the Privacy Act is applied in practice. Read our complaint case notes.
Still got questions? Chances are someone's asked them before. Take a look at our frequently asked questions for government.