Case Citation: 

A v Private School [2008] PrivCmrA 1

Subject Heading:

Refusal to give access to personal information held by a private school

Law:

National Privacy Principle 6.1(c) in Schedule 3 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)

Facts:

A student (the complainant) was asked to leave a private school (the respondent) as a result of an investigation carried out by the school.

After the student left the school they sought access to their personal information held by the school including details of the investigation which led to the complainant being asked to leave the school. 

The school indicated that it held a number of categories of documents in relation to the complainant which included reports, correspondence relating to their withdrawal from the school, and details of the investigation that led to their withdrawal.

At the time the complaint was made to the Privacy Commissioner, the school had given the complainant access to the reports and correspondence relating to the withdrawal, but had refused the complainant access to other records.

Issues:

National Privacy Principle 6 provides that individuals may access personal information that organisations hold about them unless certain exceptions apply.  These exceptions address a range of situations including where providing access may have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others (National Privacy Principle 6.1(c)).

The school claimed that providing access to the documents relating to the investigation which led to the withdrawal of the complainant from the school would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of other individuals. 

Outcome:

Having established that the school had an annual turnover of more than $3 million and was therefore not considered a small business operator and exempt from the Act, the Privacy Commissioner opened an investigation into the matter under section 40(1) of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

The school argued that providing the complainant with access to the investigation documents would amount to an interference with the privacy of other individuals as the individuals in question had provided that information on the understanding that their details would not be revealed to the complaint for fear of reprisal.

To establish whether the school's argument was valid, the Commissioner inspected the relevant documents and formed the view that the school could rely on the exception in NPP 6.1(c).  The Commissioner noted that the content of the documents clearly identified other individuals.  The view was  reached that under the circumstances providing the documents to the complainant, even with the names of the third parties suppressed, would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of those individuals.

The Commissioner communicated this view to the complainant, who indicated that they now sought access to all remaining documents that contained their personal information held by the school and were not subject to NPP 6.1(c). 

The school agreed to provide all other documents to the complainant by post. 

On receipt of these documents, the complainant alleged that further documents had been withheld by the school.

The Commissioner further investigated this allegation.  The school identified a total of seven categories of documents, some of which had not previously been provided to the complainant.  The school also undertook a further search for documents and located additional documents.  All documents discovered by the school, save for the investigation documents subject to NPP 6.1(c), were provided to the complainant by post.

The Commissioner formed the view that the school had not interfered with the complainant's privacy by refusing to give access to the investigation documents as providing the complainant with access to those documents would have had an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals. 

In relation to the remaining documents, the Commissioner was satisfied that the complaint had been adequately dealt with by the school having providing the complainant with access to those documents, and so the complaint was closed under section 41(2)(a) of the Privacy Act.

OFFICE OF THE PRIVACY COMMISSIONERMay 2008