Australia: Progress on Ratifying Privacy Recommendations

Privacy reforms pass through lower House (ZDNet)

The proposed changes, some now four years old, are designed to tighten the rules on how personal information is sent outside of Australia, how personal information may be used for direct marketing, increase the protections provided to sensitive information, such as health records and biometric data, and provide the Privacy Commissioner with powers to allow him to apply civil penalties in cases where the Privacy Act has been breached.