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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
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Media Release: Privacy Commissioner approves Australia's first Privacy Act privacy code

17 April 2002

Australia?s first private sector privacy code, under the Federal Privacy Act 1988, was today approved by Privacy Commissioner, Malcolm Crompton.

"I am pleased to announce that I have approved the General Insurance Information Privacy Code under section18BB of the Privacy Act 1988. The Code was submitted to my Office by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA). It will take effect on 17 April 2002, and is intended to cover the general insurance industry," said Mr Crompton.

The General Insurance Information Privacy Code includes a provision for a complaints handling mechanism with the Privacy Compliance Committee, a committee of the Insurance Enquiries and Complaints Ltd, as the adjudicator of the Code. Complaints about organisations bound by the code will be handled by the code adjudicator, the Privacy Compliance Committee, rather than the Privacy Commissioner.

"I congratulate ICA for their efforts in developing the General Insurance Information Privacy Code and I watch with interest this development in the privacy framework for Australians," said Mr Crompton.

The Privacy Act establishes a framework in which organisations, or groups of organisations, are able to develop their own privacy code for the handling of personal information. The co-regulatory component in the legislation is designed to allow for flexibility in an organisation?s approach to privacy while guaranteeing that consumers? personal information is subject to minimum standards that are enforceable in law.

The Privacy Commissioner may only approve a code if it contains standards that are at least the equivalent overall to the National Privacy Principles. Once a code has been approved organisations can choose to be bound by the code and it will then replace the National Privacy Principles for those organisations.

Further information regarding the ICA code and signatory organisations are available by contacting ICA.

From tomorrow, there will be a link to the ICA website from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's website (privacy.gov.au). The ICA code will be entered into the Commissioner's register of approved privacy codes on the Office website.