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From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date.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

Types

Topic(s): Health | Law reform

Synopsis of Government Response to ALRC Report 108 - Health Services and Research

document icon pdf (93.11 KB)

This resource is produced by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (‘the Office’), an independent statutory body with responsibilities under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (www.privacy.gov.au). The information reflects the Office’s understanding of the Australian Government’s stage one policy response to the health and research recommendations in Report 108 by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) as at October 2009. The Government response is at www.pmc.gov.au/privacy/alrc.cfm.
ALRC Report 108 is available at www.alrc.gov.au/inquiries/title/alrc108/index.html.

Synopsis of Government Response to ALRC Report 108 - Health Services and Research (Part H)

Chapter reference	Recomm.	Response	Synopsis
Regulatory Framework for Health Information	60-1	Not accept	Health information will continue to be regulated in the Privacy Act with some minor matters in regulations - recommendation for separate substantive health regulations rejected
	60-2	Not accept	Rejected recommendation for OPC to publish a complete set of the model UPPs as they relate to health information
	60-3	Accept in principle	OPC may consider publishing guidelines on the handling of health information
Electronic Health Information Systems	61-1	Accept in principle	Any development of a Unique Healthcare Identifier or national Shared Electronic Health Records schemes should include privacy protection in legislation
Health Information	62-1	Accept	Definition of 'health information' will make clear that it includes information in relation to physical, mental and psychological health
Health Information	62-2	Accept with amendment	Regulations may exclude specified organisations from being a health service where activities are performed for reasons other than care or treatment, such as insurance
Overall Reform for Health Privacy	63-1	Accept	Agencies or health service providers may collect health information from an individual about third parties to provide a health service where the third party information is relevant to the family, social or medical history of that individual
	63-2	Accept	Agencies or health providers may collect health information about an individual if the information is necessary to provide a health service to them and they would reasonably expect the information to be collected for that purpose
	63-3	Accept with amendment	Where an individual is incapable of understanding the disclosure or indicating consent agencies or health service providers may disclose health information about them to a person who is responsible for them
	63-4	Not accept	Definition of 'de facto partner' will not be changed
	63-5	Accept with amendment	National Health and Medical Research Council to develop rules relating to disclosure of genetic information with approval of the Privacy Commissioner - ability for agencies and health service providers to disclose genetic information to a genetic relative will remain and health service provider may also collect or use contact details of individuals genetic relatives where disclosure will occur with or without consent
	63-6	Accept with amendment	Amend options for access through a suitably qualified and appropriate health service provider where access to health information has been denied
	63-7	Accept with amendment	Individuals to be informed about what will happen to their health information if a health service provider's business ceases to operate
	63-8	Accept	There will be an ability for individuals to effect a transfer of their health information between health service providers
	63-9	Accept with amendment	National Health and Medical Research Council to develop rules for the collection, use or disclosure of health information for the funding, management, monitoring, or evaluation of a health service with approval by the Privacy Commissioner
	63-10	Not accept	Reject recommendation for Privacy Commissioner to develop rules referred to above
Research: Recommendations for Reform	65-1	Accept with amendment	National Health and Medical Research Council to issue one set of rules for public and private sector researchers to replace s.95 and s.95A with Privacy Commissioner to approve
	65-2	Accept	Permit the collection, use and disclosure of personal information without consent for the purpose of important human research in certain circumstances
	65-3	Accept	Definition of 'research' to include the compilation or analysis of statistics
	65-4	Accept with amendment	The public interest in research must 'substantially outweigh' the protection of privacy - requiring a clear choice in favour of the research
	65-5	Accept in part	Use of non-consensual personal information should only occur when it is impracticable to seek consent from individuals to the collection, use or disclosure of their personal information before that information may be used without consent for the purposes of research
	65-6	Accept	Research that involves the collection, use or disclosure of sensitive information or the use or disclosure of other personal information without consent, should be assessed by a Human Research Ethics Committee
	65-7	Accept	Reporting obligations of the Australian Health Ethics Committee and Human Research Ethics Committees contained in the research rules should serve a clear purpose and promote the objects of the Privacy Act
	65-8	Accept with amendment	Research exception to the 'Collection' principle to provide that an agency or organisation may collect personal information, including sensitive information, provided certain conditions are met - national Health and Medical Research Council to develop research rules and approved by Privacy Commissioner
	65-9	Accept with amendment	Research exception to the 'Use and Disclosure' principle to provide that an agency or organisation may use or disclose personal information provided certain conditions are met - national Health and Medical Research Council to develop research rules and approved by Privacy Commissioner
Research: Databases and Data Linkage	66-1	Accept in principle	National Health and Medical Research Council research rules should address issues relating to databases and registers, including collection, use and disclose without consent and future uses
	66-2	Accept in principle	Privacy impact assessments in relation to linkage of personal information for research purposes are not obligatory but remain good practice - OPC may assist in promotion by producing targeted guidance
	66-3	Accept in principle	National Health and Medical Research Council developed research rules should address the issues proposed in relation to 'sample acquisition' for research purposes