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ARTICLE · 06 JULY 2015

Mandatory data breach notification legislation by the end of 2015

Sparke Helmore Lawyers
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The government intends to introduce a mandatory data breach notification scheme, and will consult on draft legislation.

AustraliaPrivacy
Ashley Cahif (Formerly With Sparke Helmore Lawyers)
Ashley Cahif (Formerly With Sparke Helmore Lawyers)
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The Federal Government has stated that it will "introduce a mandatory data breach notification scheme by the end of 2015, and will consult on draft legislation."

The statement was made in the recent Attorney-General's and Minister for Communications' joint media release in response to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security's Advisory Report on the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014 (Data Retention Bill).

At this stage, it is unclear whether the Government intends to restrict the scheme to entities subject to the Data Retention Bill, or adopt a broader mandatory notification scheme by extending it to all entities subject to the Australian Privacy Principles. Both of these options were discussed in the Joint Committee's Advisory Report.

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