New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PRIVACY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT 1998 - SECT 27B

27B Exemptions relating to research

A public sector agency is not required to comply with the information protection principles with respect to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information if--

(a) the collection, use or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary for the purpose of research, or the compilation or analysis of statistics, in the public interest, and

(b) in the case where the agency would otherwise contravene section 9 in respect of the collection of the information--it is unreasonable or impracticable for the information to be collected directly from the individual to whom the information relates, and

(c) in the case of the use or disclosure of the information--either--

(i) the purpose referred to in paragraph (a) cannot be served by the use or disclosure of information that does not identify the individual or from which the individual's identity cannot reasonably be ascertained and it is impracticable for the agency to seek the consent of the individual for the use or disclosure, or

(ii) reasonable steps are taken to de-identify the information, and

(d) in the case where the use or disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to identify individuals--the information is not published in a publicly available publication, and

(e) the collection, use or disclosure of the information is in accordance with guidelines, if any, issued by the Privacy Commissioner for the purposes of this paragraph.