Privacy legislation

Researchers must ensure that their proposal conforms to all relevant privacy legislation, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth), the Information Privacy Act 2000 (Vic) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).

Where researchers are seeking to obtain information from Commonwealth agencies or from private health service providers, they should consult the Guidelines Under Section 95 of the Privacy Act 1988 and/or the Guidelines Approved Under Section 95A of the Privacy Act 1988. These guidelines can be obtained from the Local Resarch Council.

The Information Privacy Act 2000 (Vic) regulates the responsible collection and handling of personal information (excluding health information) by organisations in the Victorian public sector and came into effect on 1 September 2002. The Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) applies to all health information held in Victoria in the public or private sectors. The Health Privacy Principles became legally binding on 1 July 2002. The Health Services Commissioner of Victoria has issued statutory guidelines for the purposes of Health Privacy Principles 1.1 (e) paragraph (iii) and 2.2 (g) paragraph (iii). The guidelines can be obtained from the Office of the Health Services Commissioner.

Researchers are responsible for providing sufficient information in their application to enable the HREC to determine whether the research represents any breach of the various Privacy Principles and, if so, whether the public interest in the research substantially outweighs the public interest in respecting privacy. The Common Application Form has been modified to include specific questions in relation to privacy issues, covering both Commonwealth and State legislation.

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