Don

All of those categories you list, when running a small business (ie < $3M
turnover) have the benefit of the delayed start date (ie 21 December *2002*)
under section 16D of the Act.  Importantly this applies whether or not they
are a large corporation, if they are running a separate business that is a
small business.

Another point of importance is that the Act, when it applies to the Private
sector, will not apply (so far as is relevant to this discussion) to
information collected before the commencement date.

Also, the Act still won't apply to some small businesses even afer 12
December 2002.

Cheers
Tony Cooke 
Senior Associate 
Deacons 

(Interest: An IT Lawyer with a keen interest in Privacy Law)


-----Original Message-----
From: Don Cameron [mailto:donc&#167;mudgeeab.com.au]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 10:19 AM
To: dns&#167;auda.org.au
Subject: Re: [DNS] Privacy


> Please bear in mind that the Privacy Amendment is optional for *small*
businesses until Dec 2002

Hi David,

I'm not sure if you are aware of the September 2001 amendments, however the
opt-in clause only applies to those small businesses defined as such under
the Act - Businesses that must comply (irrespective of annual turnover), are
those which -:

Are related to a business (that is, its holding company or any subsidiary
company) that has an annual turnover of greater than $3 million; or:
Provides a health service and holds health information other than in an
employee record; or: Discloses personal information about another individual
to anyone else for benefit, service or advantage (unless it does so with the
consent of the individual concerned or is required or authorised to do so
under legislation); or: Provides a benefit, service or advantage to collect
personal information about another individual from anyone else (unless it
does so with the consent of the individual concerned or is required or
authorised to do so under legislation); or: Is a contracted service provider
for a Commonwealth contract (even if it is not a party to the contract); or
is prescribed by regulation; or opts in to the legislation.

These are very broad definitions and it's unlikely that most IT businesses
(even with a turnover less than $3m), would be able to claim a clear
exemption - I think the message is very clearly for ALL businesses to
prepare themselves for this legislation - that even if a business is exempt,
it won't be long before they are required to comply, and that it's far
better to prepare for this legislation now (which is one reason why I am
trying to promote the need for this) .

In the case of our business, we are in the process of preparing our Code of
Conduct for submission to the Privacy Commission for evaluation.

Cheers, Don Cameron


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