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From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date.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

Privacy codes and opt-ins

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) allows organisations and industries to have and to enforce their own privacy codes that continue to uphold the privacy rights of individuals while allowing some flexibility of application for organisations. Under Section 18BB of the Privacy Act the Privacy Commissioner may approve a privacy code, provided certain criteria are met. For more information on the private sector codes and to view the Register of Approved Privacy Codes please visit the Business section of the website.

Section 6EA of the Privacy Act allows small business operators, who would otherwise not be covered by the Privacy Act, to choose to be treated as an organisation for the purposes of the Act and therefore subject to the National Privacy Principles. For more information about opting in and to view the Register of businesses that have opted into Privacy Act coverage please visit the Business section of the website.