The Bill aims to establish a national set of Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), which propose to increase the obligations on private and public organisations and replace the National Privacy Principles by which these organisations have previously been bound.
Within the Bill are heightened obligations associated with direct and digital marketing, which would affect the way PR professionals communicate with stakeholders through both traditional and digital channels.
Of particular importance would be the individual’s right to request organisations to disclose to them the source of their personal information, placing an onus on businesses to keep detailed records of their sources.
The Bill also proposes additional restrictions on organisations who disclose customer data to other parties.
Under the proposed changes, customers can also request organisations not to use or disclose their personal information for the purposes of direct marketing by other parties.
Businesses would also need to tell customers if they intended to send personal information offshore, a provision of particular relevance to PR businesses relying on cloud computing systems, which would then be liable for any breaches of the APPs by overseas recipients.
PR agents engaging in direct and digital marketing would therefore need to pay attention to ensure compliance by developing detailed privacy policies that can be clearly and easily accessed by consumers.
Commencement of the laws has been deferred to nine months from the date on which the Bill receives Royal Assent, allowing affected organisations time to conform to the changes.
The Bill also increases the powers of the Australian Privacy Commissioner to resolve complaints, conduct investigations and promote privacy compliance, and in a profession that is based so largely on communication, publicity and dissemination of marketing messages, a balance will most likely need to be struck between these notions and counteracting rights to privacy.
Patrick MacDonald is a Senior Account Executive at Cole Lawson Communications in Brisbane. He is also a qualified lawyer who now specialises in media relations and issues management.
