Following public consultation, the Australasian Retail Credit Association (ARCA) has lodged an application with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for the registration of a new credit reporting (CR) code.

If registered, the CR code will come into effect on 12 March 2014 with the other privacy amendments relating to consumer credit.

The OAIC is currently reviewing the application and the proposed CR code.

The CR Code is a document that is intended to work in practice to apply privacy principles to business operations.

The CR Code will be binding and have legislative effect.

The OAIC has the discretion to:

• accept the CR Code and register it or
• modify the CR Code and consult on the new version or
• reject aspects of the CR Code and seek further modification by the code developer.

The OAIC has published a summary of the credit reporting changes to the Privacy Act.