Insurance - PricewaterhouseCoopers

5.7
Use of personal
information
All private insurance companies and agents became subject to amendments to
the Federal Privacy Act from 21 December 2001. The legislation governs collection
and use of personal information by most private companies within Australia, via the
application of the following 10 National Privacy Principles:
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collection
anonymity
use and disclosure
data security
data quality
openness
access and correction
trans-border data flows
identifiers and
sensitive information.
The legislation formalises many existing standards within the insurance industry,
such as the General Insurance Information Principles.
Small companies (with turnover of less than $3 million), political parties, government
agencies and state and territory authorities are generally excluded from this
legislation. However, federal public sector organisations are bound by the National
Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act.
Compliance with the privacy regulation is monitored by the Privacy Commissioner,
who has the authority to impose penalties proportional to the seriousness of the
breach. These include actions such as the pursuit of damages through the federal
courts, financial compensation to the policyholder, cessation of activities which led
to the breach and public naming of the offender with details of the breach published
in the annual report.
PricewaterhouseCoopers | 191
Policyholder
protection