Take notice – mandatory data breach notification laws to take effect by 23 February 2018

You'll soon have to inform the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and any potentially affected individuals of an "eligible data breach".

The Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017made its way through both houses of Parliament with bipartisan support and received Royal Asset on 22 February 2017. This will mean that, from 23 February 2018 (or earlier if a date is fixed by proclamation), the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) will include a mandatory data breach notification scheme.

What you need to do

Organisations and Federal agencies subject to the Privacy Act (APP Entities) should take steps now to ensure that their practices and procedures will enable them to meet the new obligations to which they will be subject under the amended legislation.