9/4/2001

Co-regulation is the key to flexibility in the amended privacy legislation. To enable organisations to take advantage of this flexibility the Privacy Commissioner today released the Draft Code Development Guidelines. (Please note: comments required by 15 June 2001)

"I want to know what business and community believe should be in a privacy code," said the Federal Privacy Commissioner Malcolm Crompton. On 31 July 2001 when the final guidelines are published organisations will have to comply with these requirements. So, it is in the interest of organisations and consumers to participate in our consultation process.

"Privacy Codes give organisations the opportunity to increase the level of privacy protection for their clients and lead the way in customer service," said the Privacy Commissioner.

In announcing the start of consultations on the Draft Code Development Guidelines today, the Commissioner said, "Trust will be the new weapon in winning and maintaining customer loyalty. Good privacy practices will give business a competitive edge.

"Consumers want more privacy not less and they want their personal information to be treated with respect," warned the Commissioner. Organisations seeking to establish themselves as leaders in protecting customer information can develop or sign up to a code. Codes must be approved by the Federal Privacy Commissioner and must offer protection at least equivalent to the National Privacy Principles in the amended Privacy Act 1988.

"The draft guidelines will help organisations to develop privacy codes for approval. We want to make sure people use these guidelines easily, so I urge organisations and members of the community to comment on whether all the issues are dealt with and how readable they are," Mr Crompton said.

The guidelines explain the features of a privacy code and the standards of content and application that must be met before the Privacy Commissioner will approve it. They also explain the procedures for having a code approved and the necessary operational requirements.

Consultations end 15 June 2001 and the final Code Development Guidelines will be published at the end of July 2001. Codes can be approved as of 21 December 2001 when the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 takes effect.

The Commissioner must be convinced that a proposed code has been developed in consultation with the Australian community. Where codes include an independent code adjudicator, the Commissioner must assess the proposed adjudicator against additional strict criteria. These criteria include tests of independence and fairness. Information protected by the National Privacy Principles or approved codes includes personal and sensitive information such as health information. Privacy codes will be backed by strong enforcement mechanisms.

Draft Code Development Guidelines (HTML version 161k or PDF 297 kb)