Forwarded From: Nicholas Charles Brawn <ncb05at_private> 17Nov98 AUSTRALIA: DATA PRIVACY POLICY URGED. By JAMES RILEY. AUSTRALIAN companies should consider implementing internal data protection policies following the Federal Government's failure to respond to a European Union (EU) deadline on privacy legislation, legal experts have warned. The EU has warned its trading partners that member nations would not allow for the transmission of data to trading nations that had not enacted adequate data-protection and privacy measures. Although the deadline expired on October 25, most EU States had not passed their own privacy legislation, making the likelihood of sanctions against partners remote, Freehill, Hollingdale and Page privacy solicitor Alan Peckham said. But although the EU appeared to be behind its own schedule in implementing data-protection trade policy, Mr Peckham said his firm had recommended that clients trading with Europe should establish strict internal privacy policies. The directive had sought to allow data exchange only with "White-listed" countries (those with data-protection legislation). However, Mr Peckham said that Australian companies with European trading interests could apply to "White-list" themselves if they could demonstrate adherence to their own, strict internal privacy policies. "For the average Australian company that deals with the EU, this shouldn't really be a concern," he said. "But they should still make sure they have sufficient privacy protection in place to ensure that they can be `White-listed' later if it's required." Mr Peckham said that although the Federal Government passed privacy legislation in the late 1980s that protected personal data held by government departments - and was later extended to include credit providers - there was no privacy law covering the private sector. Rather, the Federal Government had introduced a privacy code in March through Privacy Commissioner Moira Scollay as a means of industry self-regulation. National Office of the Information Economy executive director Paul Twomey said various EU spokesmen had indicated that this kind of selfregulation would satisfy EU personal data protection requirements, as long as there was adequate policing and enforcement. "In the e-commerce world, consumers are clearly putting a premium on security issues," Dr Twomey said. "So it's in a company's own commercial interest to enact some kind of personal data protection either by themselves, or through some sort of industry code." The Victorian Government, meanwhile, plans to introduce a data-protection bill, providing an enforceable framework, in the autumn session of parliament next year. www.hreoc.gov.au. AUSTRALIAN 17/11/1998 P46 -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
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