Biometrics Institute calls for Privacy Act improvements
The Biometrics Institute is calling for major improvements to the Privacy Act including mandatory Privacy Impact Assessments and Audits, no exemptions for any group, the inclusion of employee records in the Act's coverage and a unified national privacy system.In its mandatory Biometrics Institute Privacy Code Review, the Biometrics Institute reports that, over three years, it has tested a number of changes which have raised the bar above and beyond the Privacy Act.
None of its members have indicated any issues with these proposed changes.
The Biometrics Institute, Australia and New Zealand's umbrella body for all organisations using biometrics, says that the current Privacy Act is a 1988 model and needs a major overhaul to bring into the 21st century.
"We have experienced a slow take up of our own Privacy Code," the Biometrics Institute General Manager, Isabelle Moeller, said.
"But this has been due primarily to the complexity of current privacy legislation across Australia."
The Biometrics Institute Independent Code Review Panel has released its Independent Review Report with recommendations for the Review of the Biometrics Institute Privacy Code to which the Biometrics Institute Code Administrator has provided a Response.
Both reports are now available for comment until close of business Wednesday 7 October 2009, on the Code Review Website at http://www.biometricsinstitute.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=169
"The Biometrics Institute will accept all the Panel's recommendations and will not make any amendments either to the PIA/ audit requirements contained in the Privacy Code or to the employee records coverage," Moeller said.
"A rewrite of the Privacy Code awaits the passage of any new Privacy/Information Act."
"Once a revised Privacy Act is in place, the Code will be simplified given that many of its provisions mirror the current Privacy Act (as required)," Moeller said.
The Privacy Office's Code Development Guidelines suggest that an independent review of the Privacy Code and its operations should occur once every three years.
The Biometrics Institute Privacy Code was approved on 19 July 2006 and took effect on 1 September 2006, a world first.
The review process began in February 2008 with the establishment of the Independent Code Review Panel.
The Panel conducted two surveys and consulted with over 700 members, key stakeholders and the public.
Reader Comments
There are no comments on this article yet.
