The Commonwealth Government’s 13 proposed Australian Privacy Principles (APP), to be incorporated within a new Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and will change the Information Privacy Principles (the IPP, which govern the Commonwealth public sector) and National Privacy Principles (or the NPP, which govern private sector conduct). The Cabinet Secretary liable for drafting the new laws, Joe Ludwig, has stated that the individual’s privilege to privacy is a ‘fundamental human right that really must be secured’. To this end, the actual legislation will be amended with the following objectives in mind:
The two current sets of principles (the IPP and NPP) will be substituted by a single, streamlined and harmonised list of commitments that draw on the existing principles; That the Principles should symbolize a balanced list of specifications to deal with the chance of harm from inappropriate sharing and handling of an individual’s personal information; To ensure that the criteria also take into account an individual’s fair anticipations around the treating of their information; and To make sure that the restrictions reach a harmony concerning the Public’s and the individual’s need for productive, beneficial service delivery and public protection.
On the other hand, website terms and conditions usually are not the very first thing you examine when browsing a web page, logically most people never check out a website’s terms and conditions unless encountered with a dialogue box requesting their acceptance. However creating a page of terms and conditions as well as a privacy policy is vital to the successful performance of your website or online business. In 2009 the ACCC began a crackdown on the websites of online retailers who “simply ‘cut and paste’ information from other sites on warranties and refunds without verifying that the details are correct”, to quote the ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel. The ACCC properly went after the large online retailer DealsDirect over warranty terms on their own goods which were in breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). The business was instructed to adjust its website terms and conditions according to a court order.
While difficulties with the previous Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth), now the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), are limited to websites selling goods or services, every website will need terms and conditions as other laws will influence them. For instance you may want to limit the methods consumers can use your website’s content; this will simply be enforceable if your terms and conditions adhere to the common and statutory laws of contract, and the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Here are several areas to take into account when drafting website terms and conditions: What does your website feature? Every website is unique and will consequently need a unique set of terms and conditions. Websites can generally be separated into the sets of offering information, product and/or service sales, and those allowing user generated content. It is necessary to work through what it is your website is offering and draft your terms and conditions consequently.
For example a website permitting people to purchase products and/or services requires terms about distribution, warranties, a returns policy, and to ensure such terms and conditions do not offend the provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). Websites allowing user generated content will need terms detailing who carries responsibility for the content, and procedures for coping with unpleasant content. Any website will also need to clarify the conditions upon which people can use website content and features, and to determine what uses of original content are permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). One size does not fit all, and just copying and pasting the terms and conditions of another website to your own will mean you are left with a policy that doesn’t satisfy your website’s content and processes – a difficulty that may have legal consequences like it did for DealsDirect.
