Legislation Changes Could Cost Your Business $1000
Safe Your Business with a Comprehensive Privacy Policy
Up To Date Privacy Policies For Businesses (2024)
Recent changes into the Privacy Act by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, now means that any business that employs staff or extends credit could now face massive fines if they don’t have an up-to-date Privacy Policy protecting both the clients and employees personal information.
So today we are going to discuss,
- What are the Changes in Legislation?
- What are the Potential Costs?
- Steps You Need To Take,
What Are The Changes
Australian Privacy Principles
As of 2014 every business in Australia subject to the Privacy Act, is required by law to be up to date with the Australian Privacy Principles. All businesses are required to have a Privacy Policy, especially if they collect any amount of data on anyone who interacts with your business. This includes both your clients and staff’s personal details.
What Is Personal Information
Under the Legislation, Personal Information can be information such as,
- Clients and Employees Names
- Clients and Employees Address
- All Phone Numbers
- All Email Addresses
- All Bank Account Details
- All Credit Card Information
- Employee Tax File No’s
Essentially All Information you collect from your Clients, Employees and Website Visitors.
However, most businesses aren’t aware that there have been further recent changes to the Privacy Legislation that significantly increases a businesses risk especially if your business has employees.
So Please Keep Reading
Take Back Control
On the 22nd of February 2018, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner introduced the latest Amendment to the Privacy Act being The Notifiable Data Breach legislation. Essentially the legislation outlines now and why all businesses now need to notify the OAIC if their business suffers any sort of data breach. The most obvious of course is having their computer systems hacked, but it also includes having any sort of data misplaced or solen data, which would include laptops, smartphones etc.
What Are the Potential Costs?
Costs Compensation and Damages
Data Breach Fines can be horrendous. The fine for an individual which could be made up of several offences is $420 000. The fine for a company could be as high as $2,100 000.
Loss of Trust and Reputation
2018 saw an 8-fold increase in Reportable Data Breaches which resulted in 22% of those businesses having to shut their doors.
Financial Costs
Not only is there a cost in fines and a Loss of Reputation, but part of the mandatory process in recovering from a Notifiable Data Breach is the need to contact all those clients affected by the breach. This includes an explanation and the potential remedies. Where do you think, those businesses are going to go when they next need to order the product your business supplies?
Steps You Need To Take
Update Your Privacy Policy
There’s an enormous number of businesses who believe they have an up-to-date Privacy Policy, but they tend to be Privacy Policies they have copied from someone else. A proper Privacy Policy talks specifically to your business and should be written specifically for your business. To give you an idea, the Privacy Policy Manual we supply our clients is anywhere from 23 to 26 pages long.
Publish Your Privacy Policy
Under legislation Requirements not only does a business need to have a Privacy Policy handy for anyone to view on request but they also need to display their Privacy Policy where it is most easily available for their clients to view. For most businesses that is on their website.
Educate Your Staff
It’s one thing to have a Privacy Policy but in order to comply with the legislation, a business needs to be able to demonstrate that they have made their staff aware of their Privacy Policy and educated their staff accordingly.
