Identity Verification Services Act 2023

A request for an FIS must be made only:

by any of the following officers of a Commonwealth, State or Territory government authority that is a party to a participation agreement:

a law enforcement officer or intelligence officer (within the meaning of section 15K of the Crimes Act 1914);

an officer (however described) of an agency authorised under a corresponding assumed identity law (within the meaning of section 15K of the Crimes Act 1914);

an officer (however described) of an approved authority (within the meaning of the Witness Protection Act 1994) that is permitted to participate in the National Witness Protection Program under that Act, or a complementary witness protection law declared under section 3AA of that Act; and

if the officer is required to make the request for the purpose of protecting the identity of a shielded person or someone else associated with a shielded person.

The person making the request on behalf of the authority must be an officer who is approved as a suitable person to make the request (or requests of that kind) by:

the head (however described) of the authority; or

a person who:

is the holder of a management office or position in the authority; and

is authorised, by notice in writing given to the Department, by that head to approve persons to make requests for FISs on behalf of the authority; and

is senior to the person making the request.

To comply with the participation agreement to which the authority is party, an officer approved to make the request must have been trained in facial recognition and image comparison: see paragraph 10(2)(b).

The request must:

include a single facial image of an individual (whether or not other face‑matching service information that relates to the individual is included); and

specify the kinds of government identification documents against which the face‑matching service information in the request is to be compared, partly by reference to whether the authority by or on behalf of which the documents are issued is:

an authority of the Commonwealth; or

an authority of a specified State; or

an authority of a specified Territory.

Making a false or misleading statement in the request may be an offence against section 136.1 of the Criminal Code.

The request must be:

endorsed by the head (however described) of the authority, or a person who:

is the holder of a management office or position in the authority; and

is authorised, by notice in writing given to the Department, by that head to endorse requests for FISs made on behalf of the authority; and

is senior to the person making the request; and

made by electronic communication to the Face Matching Service Hub.

The endorsement may be given at the same time as, or after, the request is made by electronic communication to the Face Matching Service Hub.

A person must not endorse a request made on behalf of an authority unless the person is satisfied that the request is made for the purposes of:

protecting the shielded person, or associate, stated in the request; and

the performance of the authority’s functions.