The draft Australian Privacy Principle (APP) guidelines have been released for public feedback by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
Australian Information Commissioner Professor John McMillan said the guidelines outline how the OAIC will interpret and apply the APPs which come into law on 12 March 2014.
The draft guidelines will be released in stages during September. The first stage includes new requirements for agencies and enterprises about how they manage personal information, including the requirement to have a clearly expressed and up-to-date privacy policy.
The following APPs have been released for public consultation:
- APP 1 – open and transparent management of personal information
- APP 2 – anonymity and pseudonymity
- APP 3 – collection of solicited personal information
- APP 4 – dealing with unsolicited personal information
- APP 5 – notification of the collection of personal information.
“We encourage those with an interest in privacy and best practice personal information handling to consider these guidelines and give us their views so that we can arrive at guidance that is as useful as possible,” McMillan said in a statement.
Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim added that the new laws require government agencies and private sector organisations to be more open and transparent about management of personal information.
“This will give people a better understanding of how their information will be handled so that they can make an informed decision about interacting with the entities covered by the Privacy Act,” he said.
Submissions can be sent to consultation@oaic.gov.au. The deadline for replies is 20 September 2013.
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