The Government today published its response to the Attorney-General’s Department’s Privacy Act Review Report, released in February, accepting 38 of the report’s recommendations, accepting a further 68 in-principle and rejecting 10.
Pleasingly, included in the proposals that are not agreed are:
- The proposal to provide individuals with an unqualified right to opt-out of targeted advertising; and
- the proposals to apply specific protections of the Privacy Act to de-identified information.
A number of the proposals that IAB raised in its submission to the Department are in the ‘agreement in-principle’ category, which means the department will be engaging in further discussions with stakeholders and undertaking a comprehensive impact analysis before coming to a final decision. The proposals in this category include:
- The definition of Personal Information;
- The definition of targeting;
- The fair and reasonable test;
- The proposals in relation to trading;
- The proposal to remove the small business exemption.
In terms of next steps, the Government has indicated that the Department will develop legislative amendments for the proposals that are ‘agreed’, and engage in further targeted consultations in relation to proposals that are ‘agreed-in-principle’, with a view to providing further advice to Government, including legislative proposals, in 2024.
The Attorney-General’s Department will also be progressing work on the non-legislative proposals, including development of a Children’s Online Privacy Code.
We will go through the response in detail and provide more detail over the coming weeks.