From Monday 1st September, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) will introduce a new set of Territory Privacy Principals (TPPs). As part of the new Information Privacy Act 2014 (ACT), this gives the OAIC the responsibility for investigating, handling and resolving complaints, providing advice, and conducting privacy assessments of ACT public sector agencies. The TPPs are similar to the Australian Privacy Principals (APPs), released in March 2014, but have been written to apply specifically to public sectors in the ACT, and cover the following areas¹:

• open and transparent management of personal information, including privacy policies
• collection, and notification of collection, of personal information
• use and disclosure of personal information
• access and correction of personal information.

Australian Information Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim welcomes the introduction of the new laws, and states that the first priority is to ensure public sector agencies’ privacy policies are up to date. As well as this, the OAIC will give residents in the ACT access to information to ensure they’re aware of their rights. For agencies that need help with to assess their compliance with the new TPPs, the OAIC has set up a checklist, which you can view here. 1 – Source: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner