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From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date.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

New South Wales

The Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) deals with how all New South Wales public sector agencies manage personal information. It also sets out the role of the New South Wales Privacy Commissioner.

While the PPIP Act applies primarily to the New South Wales public sector, it gives the New South Wales Privacy Commissioner the power to investigate and conciliate privacy breaches by organisations and individuals who are not public sector agencies.

The Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIP Act) came into effect on 1 September 2004. It governs the handling of health information in the public sector, and it also seeks to regulate the handling of health information in the private sector in New South Wales. In December 2004 Privacy NSW developed four statutory guidelines under the HRIP Act. These guidelines are legally binding documents that define the scope of particular exemptions in the health privacy principles.

Relevant New South Wales laws include: