December 2022 – Cyber Law Watch

New Privacy Enforcement Act commences in Australia

Dec 14 2022

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Stephanie Mayhew

As of yesterday, the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Act 2022 (Privacy Enforcement Act) is now in effect after receiving Royal Assent on 12 December 2022.

As we have previously shared, the Privacy Enforcement Act increases the maximum penalties for serious or repeated privacy breaches. For body corporates/organisations this increases the penalty from the current $2.22 million to whichever is the greater of:

Dec 02 2022

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Stephanie Mayhew

Earlier this week (on 29 November), the Australian Parliament passed the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022 (Bill) which was introduced to Parliament on 26 October 2022.

The Bill amends the following:

Privacy Act 1988 to expand the Australian Information Commissioner’s enforcement and information sharing powers and increase penalties for serious or repeated interferences with privacy;

Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 to enable the Australian Communications and Media Authority to disclose information to a non-corporate Commonwealth entity that is responsible for enforcing one or more laws of the Commonwealth; and

Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 to allow the Australian Information Commissioner to delegate certain functions or powers.

Archive:December 2022

New Privacy Enforcement Act commences in Australia

Australia passes Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022