Commonwealth Numbered Acts

PRIVACY ACT 1988 No. 119, 1988 - SECT 6

6. (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

"agency" means:

   (a)  a Minister;

   (b)  a Department;

   (c)  a body (whether incorporated or not), or a tribunal, established or
        appointed for a public purpose by or under a Commonwealth enactment,
        not being:

        (i)    an incorporated company, society or association;

        (ii)   an organisation within the meaning of the Conciliation and
               Arbitration Act 1904 or a branch of such an organisation; or

        (iii)  a body corporate constituted under subsection 6 (1) of the
               Legal Practitioners Ordinance 1970 of the Australian Capital
               Territory;

   (d)  a body established or appointed by the Governor-General, or by a
        Minister, otherwise than by or under a Commonwealth enactment;

   (e)  a person holding or performing the duties of an office established by
        or under, or an appointment made under, a Commonwealth enactment,
        other than a person who, by virtue of holding that office, is the
        Secretary of a Department;

   (f)  a person holding or performing the duties of an appointment, being an
        appointment made by the Governor-General, or by a Minister, otherwise
        than under a Commonwealth enactment;

   (g)  a federal court and a court of the Australian Capital Territory; and

   (h)  the Australian Federal Police;

"Commissioner" means the Privacy Commissioner;

"Commissioner of Police" means the Commissioner of Police appointed under the
Australian Federal Police Act 1979;

"Commonwealth enactment" means:

   (a)  an Act other than:

        (i)    the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978; or

        (ii)   an Act providing for the administration or government of an
               external Territory;

   (b)  an Ordinance of the Australian Capital Territory;

   (c)  an instrument (including rules, regulations or by-laws) made under an
        Act to which paragraph (a) applies or under an Ordinance to which
        paragraph (b) applies; or

   (d)  any other legislation that applies as a law of the Commonwealth (other
        than legislation in so far as it is applied by an Act referred to in
        subparagraph (a) (i) or (ii)) or as a law of the Australian Capital
        Territory, to the extent that it operates as such a law;

"Commonwealth officer" means a person who holds office under, or is employed
by, the Commonwealth, and includes:

   (a)  a person appointed or employed under the Public Service Act 1922;

   (b)  a person (other than a person referred to in paragraph (a))
        permanently or temporarily employed by, or in the service of, an
        agency;

   (c)  a member of the Defence Force; and

   (d)  a member or special member of the Australian Federal Police;
but does not include a person permanently or temporarily employed in the
Public Service of the Northern Territory or of Norfolk Island;

"consent" means express consent or implied consent;

"corporation" means a body corporate that:

   (a)  is a foreign corporation;

   (b)  is a trading corporation formed within the limits of Australia or is a
        financial corporation so formed; or

   (c)  is incorporated in a Territory, other than the Northern Territory;

"Defence Force" includes the Naval Reserve Cadets, the Australian Cadet Corps
and the Air Training Corps;

"Department" means a Department within the meaning of the Public Service Act
1922, other than:

   (a)  the Department of the Senate;

   (b)  the Department of the House of Representatives;

   (c)  the Department of the Parliamentary Library;

   (d)  the Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff; and

   (e)  the Joint House Department;

"Federal Court" means the Federal Court of Australia;

"file number complaint" means a complaint about an act or practice that, if
established, would be an interference with the privacy of the complainant:

   (a)  because it breached a guideline issued under section 17; or

   (b)  because it involved an unauthorised requirement or request for
        disclosure of a tax file number;

"financial corporation" means a financial corporation within the meaning of
paragraph 51 (xx) of the Constitution, and includes a body corporate that
carries on as its sole or principal business the business of banking (other
than State banking not extending beyond the limits of the State concerned) or
insurance (other than State insurance not extending beyond the limits of the
State concerned);

"foreign corporation" means a foreign corporation within the meaning of
paragraph 51 (xx) of the Constitution;

" Freedom of Information Act" means the Freedom of Information Act 1982;

"generally available publication" means a magazine, book, newspaper or other
publication that is or will be generally available to members of the public;

"individual" means a natural person;

"individual concerned", in relation to personal information or a record of
personal information, means the individual to whom the information relates;

"Information Privacy Principle" means any of the Information Privacy
Principles set out in section 14;

"intelligence agency" means:

   (a)  the Australian Security Intelligence Organization;

   (b)  the Australian Secret Intelligence Service; or

   (c)  the Office of National Assessments;

"IPP complaint" means a complaint about an act or practice that, if
established, would be an interference with the privacy of the complainant
because it breached an Information Privacy Principle;

"medical research" includes epidemiological research;

"Ombudsman" means the Commonwealth Ombudsman;

"personal information" means information or an opinion (including information
or an opinion forming part of a database), whether true or not, and whether
recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is
apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion;

"record" means:

   (a)  a document;

   (b)  a database (however kept); or

   (c)  a photograph or other pictorial representation of a person;
but does not include:

   (d)  a generally available publication;

   (e)  anything kept in a library, art gallery or museum for the purposes of
        reference, study or exhibition;

   (f)  Commonwealth records as defined by subsection 3 (1) of the Archives 
        Act 1983 that are in the open access period for the purposes of that
        Act;

   (g)  documents placed by or on behalf of a person (other than an agency) in
        the memorial collection within the meaning of the
        Australian War Memorial  Act 1980 ; or

   (h)  letters or other articles in the course of transmission by post;

"representative complaint" means a complaint under subsection 36 (2);

"Secretary", in relation to a Department, has the same meaning as in the
Public Service Act 1922;

"solicit", in relation to personal information, means request a person to
provide that information, or a kind of information in which that information
is included;

"State" includes the Northern Territory;

"tax file number" means a tax file number as defined in Part VA of the
Income Tax Assessment Act 1936;

"tax file number information" means information (including information forming
part of a database), whether compiled lawfully or unlawfully, and whether
recorded in a material form or not, that records the tax file number of a
person in a manner connecting it with the person's identity;

"trading corporation" means a trading corporation within the meaning of
paragraph 51 (xx) of the Constitution;

"use", in relation to information, does not include mere disclosure of the
information, but does include the inclusion of the information in a
publication.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, an act or practice breaches an Information
Privacy Principle if, and only if, it is contrary to, or inconsistent with,
that Information Privacy Principle.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, an act or practice breaches a guideline
issued under section 17 if, and only if, it is contrary to, or inconsistent
with, the guideline.
(4) The definition of "individual" in subsection (1) shall not be taken to
imply that references to persons do not include persons other than natural
persons.

(5) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall not be taken to be an agency
merely because the person is the holder of, or performs the duties of:

   (a)  a prescribed office;

   (b)  an office prescribed by regulations made for the purposes of
        subparagraph 4 (3) (b) (i) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982;

   (c)  an office established by or under a Commonwealth enactment for the
        purposes of an agency;

   (d)  a judicial office or of an office of magistrate; or

   (e)  an office of member of a tribunal that is established by or under a
        law of the Commonwealth and that is prescribed for the purposes of
        this paragraph.

(6) For the purposes of this Act, the Department of Defence shall be taken to
include the Defence Force.

(7) Nothing in this Act prevents a complaint being both a file number
complaint and an IPP complaint.