Direction on the Collection of Personal Information by the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the Cross Agency Data Cleanse Project

This Direction authorised the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to participate Cross Agency Data Cleanse Pilot Project. It operated from 10 October 2003 until 31 December 2003.

Explanatory note

The Cross Agency Data Cleanse Pilot Project (Pilot Project) is an initiative of Australian, State and Territory agencies concerned with establishing the data quality of personal information they receive in relation to their clients and customers. The Pilot Project is a project of the Commonwealth Reference Group on Identity Fraud chaired by the Australian Attorney-General’s Department.

This Direction is intended to authorise the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to participate in the Pilot Project by collecting and comparing personal information from other participants with information contained in the registers it maintains under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995, primarily relating to records of births and deaths. The Pilot Project does not involve disclosure of identifiable personal information by the Registry to other participants and requires the Registry to destroy the information it receives once it has reported the results of the match or matches

Direction

I, John Dickie, Acting Privacy Commissioner, pursuant to my power under section 41 of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998, hereby make the following Direction:

1. This Direction applies to the Office of the New South Wales Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages as established under the Births, deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 (the Registry).
2. For the purpose of participating in the Pilot Project, this Direction authorises the Registry to collect personal information from the Australian Government for the purpose of data matching against its registers, where collection from third parties, and without notification to the individual concerned, would otherwise breach sections 9 and 10 of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act.
3. To avoid uncertainty over the obligations of the Registry in relation to the information which it will consequently hold for the purpose of undertaking the Pilot Project, this Direction further authorises the Registry to depart from sections 13, 14, 15 and 16 of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act, in relation to the information collected as part of the Pilot Project, where compliance with these sections would not be reasonably practicable, having regard to the limited purpose for which the information is to be collected, used and retained.
4. This Direction commences on 10 October 2003, and will remain in force until 31 December 2003

Signed by me on this 10th day of October 2003

John Dickie
Acting NSW Privacy Commissioner