Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014

An organisation may seek approval of a code of practice, or of an amendment to an approved code of practice, by submitting the code or amendment to the Information Commissioner.

The Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister acting on the advice received from the Information Commissioner under subsection (3), may by notice published in the Government Gazette approve a code of practice or an amendment to an approved code of practice.

The Information Commissioner may advise the Minister to recommend to the Governor in Council that a code of practice, or an amendment to an approved code of practice, be approved if in the Information Commissioner's opinion—

the code or amendment is consistent with the objects of this Act in relation to the personal information to which the code applies; and

the code prescribes standards that are at least as stringent as the standards prescribed by the Information Privacy Principles; and

the code specifies—

the organisations bound (either wholly or to a limited extent) by the code; or

a way of determining the organisations that are, or will be, bound (either wholly or to a limited extent) by the code; and

only organisations that consent to be bound by the code are, or will be, bound by the code.

Before deciding whether or not to advise the Minister to recommend approval of a code of practice or of an amendment to an approved code of practice, the Information Commissioner—

may consult any person or body that the Information Commissioner considers it appropriate to consult; and

must have regard to the extent to which members of the public have been given an opportunity to comment on the code or amendment.

A code of practice or an amendment to an approved code of practice comes into operation at the beginning of—

the day on which the notice of approval under subsection (2) is published in the Government Gazette; or

any later day stated in the notice as the day on which the code or amendment comes into operation.