Treasury has released for consultation exposure draft legislation on the Consumer Data Right (CDR) recommended by the Review into Open Banking in Australia. Background.

The consumer data right provides consumers with the power to direct their information go to other data holders in a sector or to accredited data recipients within the relevant sector or in another sector. It empowers consumers to use their data in order to get more competitive deals from within the designated sector.

Initially, the CDR will apply to banking products and loans and later the energy and telecommunications sectors.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Bill 2018 will primarily amend the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 but will also consequentially amend the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010.

The consumer data right will apply to data holders who have information relevant to the designated sector – for banking, banks. Other participants can become accredited to receive information through the CDR system. A register of accredited participants will be maintained and accreditations can be revoked or suspended. Consumer data rules will be made about the revocation and suspension of accreditations.

Consumer data rules to be made by the ACCC will provide the detail on compliance with the CDR for each designated sector. They will cover all aspects of a designated sector including consent to disclosure, how CDR data can be used and by whom.

The CDR privacy safeguards will set out the minimum standards applying to safeguard the privacy of CDR data. They apply irrespective of whether the data belongs to an individual or a business, provided that the data is CDR data (pursuant to the designation and any consumer data rules), belonging to a CDR consumer. The APPs continue to apply to many of the uses, the collection, and storage of CDR data in the hands of data holders.