New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PRIVACY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT 1998 - SECT 4

4 Definition of “personal information”

(1) In this Act, "personal information" means information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database and whether or not recorded in a material form) about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion.

(2) Personal information includes such things as an individual’s fingerprints, retina prints, body samples or genetic characteristics.

(3) Personal information does not include any of the following:

(a) information about an individual who has been dead for more than 30 years,

(b) information about an individual that is contained in a publicly available publication,

(c) information about a witness who is included in a witness protection program under the Witness Protection Act 1995 or who is subject to other witness protection arrangements made under an Act,

(d) information about an individual arising out of a warrant issued under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 of the Commonwealth,

(e) information about an individual that is contained in a protected disclosure within the meaning of the Protected Disclosures Act 1994 , or that has been collected in the course of an investigation arising out of a protected disclosure,

(f) information about an individual arising out of, or in connection with, an authorised operation within the meaning of the Law Enforcement (Controlled Operations) Act 1997 ,

(g) information about an individual arising out of a Royal Commission or Special Commission of Inquiry,

(h) information about an individual arising out of a complaint made under Part 8A of the Police Act 1990 ,

(i) information about an individual that is contained in a document of a kind referred to in clause 1 or 2 of Schedule 1 (restricted documents) to the Freedom of Information Act 1989 (ie Cabinet documents or Executive Council documents),

(j) information or an opinion about an individual’s suitability for appointment or employment as a public sector official,

(ja) information about an individual that is obtained about an individual under Chapter 8 (Adoption information) of the Adoption Act 2000 ,

(k) information about an individual that is of a class, or is contained in a document of a class, prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.

(4) For the purposes of this Act, personal information is "held" by a public sector agency if:

(a) the agency is in possession or control of the information, or

(b) the information is in the possession or control of a person employed or engaged by the agency in the course of such employment or engagement, or

(c) the information is contained in a State record in respect of which the agency is responsible under the State Records Act 1998 .

(5) For the purposes of this Act, personal information is not "collected" by a public sector agency if the receipt of the information by the agency is unsolicited.