ARTICLE · 01 MARCH 2017

Mandatory data breach notification: how will the new laws in Australia impact your business?

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This will impact many Australian companies and foreign companies in Australia who interact with Australian data subjects.

AustraliaPrivacy

Claire Morris (Formerly With Corrs Chambers Westgarth)

Viva Paxton

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Australia's Federal Parliament has now passed the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016, which will introduce mandatory data breach notification obligations for all organisations that are subject to Australia's Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This includes all Australian-registered companies, but will also capture many foreign-registered companies that carry on business in Australia and interact with Australian data subjects.

The new laws are likely to take effect in the next 12 months, so it's time for organisations to prepare.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

'Eligible Data Breach'

The new regime will require notification of "eligible data breaches". These are defined as data breaches, including data loss incidents, where a "reasonable person would conclude that [the breach] would be likely to result in serious harm to any of the [affected individuals]".

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