Changes to the Australian Privacy Act are planned for 2014 and will impact each and every business dealing with customer information. Now is the time to be preparing for these changes and ensuring their policies and procedures are compliant.
The changes will come into effect on 12 March 2014 and particularly affect organisations in the healthcare, financial services, technology, media and consumer facing sectors.
What this will mean for you
- Organisations may be liable for disclosures made by third parties overseas.
- Powers of the Australian Information Commissioner will be expanded and new penalties introduced.
- Organisations that provide credit will be subject to new credit reporting laws.
While a year can seem like a long time, organisations should be thinking about the implications for their policies and procedures now to make sure they are compliant and don't risk fines and negative publicity next year.
Make sure you are considering this important issue in your organisation as soon as possible and seeking input from legal advisers with specific knowledge regarding privacy laws where needed.
Consider
- Are you aware of how the changes to the Privacy Act affect your business?
- Are you planning to move IT services to the cloud? If so what jurisdiction will apply to privacy issues and how strong are they?
- What plans do you have to develop your credit reporting policies?
- What plans do you have to review and assess the impacts of the Privacy Act amendments?
- Will your privacy policy still be compliant next year? When was it last reviewed?
- When did you last update your collection statement? Do you have the necessary consents to use this information?
- How comfortable are you that your direct marketing will still be compliant?
- Who "owns" privacy within your organisation?
K&L Gates can assist you to answer these queries and ensure that your organisation is ready for the changes to privacy laws.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
