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Australia’s New Privacy Policy: How Does It Affect You?

 As an SMB that most likely collects, stores and uses information about its customers and suppliers, are you aware of your new responsibilities under upcoming changes the Privacy Act?

Did you know that from March 2014 all businesses that fall under the act will have to publish a freely available Privacy Policy.  If you don’t have one already, LawPath has a template to get you started.

Penalties will be severe rising up to as much as $340,000 for individuals up to $1.7 million for corporations.

Major organisations caught out recently breaching the Privacy Act include Australia Post and AAPT and there is likely to be an increase in both individual and corporate fines as the new legislation comes into play.

Privacy Law specialist Peta Maloney of Pyms Technology Lawyers said the key areas where your company policy needs to be updated as a result of the new laws are:

  1. Need to state exactly what types of personal information your business gathers on its customers.
  2. Need to state how a person can complain about a privacy breach and how you will deal with that complaint.
  3. Need to state if you send any personal information overseas and where you send it.

According to the Australian Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, data breaches most often occurred due to poor or inadequate security measures.

“With only five months to go until the changes to the Privacy Act take effect, businesses need to reinforce to their employees the company’s responsibility for protecting customer details and also ensure that their security technology is robust.”

Don’t wait for a complaint or fine; make sure your business is covered for the up and coming Privacy Act changes. Ask LawPath a question about your business requirements or get started by downloading our privacy template.

Don’t know where to start? Contact us on 1800 529 728 to learn more about customising legal documents and obtaining a fixed-fee quote from Australia’s largest lawyer marketplace.

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