Privacy Regulation 2013 was registered on 17 December 2013. It updates and consolidates the Privacy Regulations with changes made to implement the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Protection) Act 2012 which commences on 12 March 2014.
The main changes relate to credit reporting as a result of amendments to Part IIIA of the Privacy Act.
Regulation 6 – Consumer credit liability information
This Regulation prescribes the terms or conditions of the consumer credit for the purposes of the definition of consumer credit liability information in paragraph 6(1)(e) of the Act. These are:
(a) how the principal and interest on the consumer credit are to be paid (with the regulation specifying that payments be classified as either principal and interest, principal plus interest with a residual balloon, or interest only);
(b) whether the term of the consumer credit is fixed or revolving;
(c) if the term of the consumer credit is fixed – the length of the term;
(d) whether the individual is a guarantor to another individual is in relation to that particular line of credit of the other individual;
(e) whether the consumer credit is secured or unsecured; and
(f) any variation that may be made to items contained in the above paragraphs (a) to (e).
Regulation 10 – Meaning of credit provider
Regulation 10(2) excludes from the definition of credit provider under subsection 6G(6) of the amended Privacy Act any organisation or small business operators acting in the capacity of a current or prospective landlord in relation to the individual with whom an organisation or small business may be transacting. Any landlord which receives rent in arrears is therefore excluded from the definition of a credit provider.
Regulation 11 – Meaning of credit reporting business
This Regulation excludes from the definition of credit reporting business under subsection 6P(4) of the amended Privacy Act those businesses which provide personal information to a credit provider for the purposes of verifying an individual’s identity or validating other information relating to the individual’s financial position (such as real property assets) provided by an individual to a credit provider.
Regulation 12 – Meaning of repayment history information
This regulation specifies the circumstances in which an individual has not met an obligation to make a monthly payment that is due and payable, pursuant to subsection 6V(2) of the amended Privacy Act. The Regulation provides that where an individual misses any or all repayments due in a month, irrespective of the actual payment cycle for that obligation, then the individual is taken to have missed a payment. The intention of this section is to ensure that there is only one report each month per credit account of an individual’s repayment history information.
Regulation 22 – Transitional
The Regulation provides that information requests that are being processed on or before the commencement date of the Privacy Amendment Act may be processed under the existing Part IIIA of the Privacy Act up to, and including, 31 March 2014.
More about the Privacy Amendment Act
