Mandatory reporting for privacy breaches: Bill tabled in Parliament

Today the Federal Government tabled amendments to the Privacy Act to introduce the mandatory reporting of privacy breaches, the Privacy Amendment (Privacy Alerts) Bill 2013.

When will these changes take effect?

If the Bill is passed, it will commence on 12 March 2014, at the same time as the amendments to the Privacy Act made last year.

What breaches need to be reported?

Serious data breaches involving the following information need to be reported:

• personal information;
• credit reporting information;
• credit eligibility information; or
• tax file numbers.

Serious data breaches will arise where there has been:

• unauthorised access to, or disclosure of that information, or where that information is lost in circumstances that could give rise to unauthorised loss or disclosure; and