IMPORTANT NOTICE TO REINSW MEMBERS USING THIS DOCUMENT

1. This ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template serves a separate and distinct purpose to any other document prepared in relation to these matters. This ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template has been prepared for general assistance and as a member benefit.

2. The total suite of ‘guide’ documents prepared for the benefit of members consist of:

   1. General Website Privacy Policy template;

   2. Privacy Policy and Collection Notice template;

   3. Compliance Plan template; and

   4. Personal Information Request for Access / Request for Correction form template.

   A general summary of the matters this document is intended to address is included in paragraphs 6 – 10 (inclusive), below.

3. The form of this ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template set out below is merely a guide. It is not the intention of The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) or any other party that this ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template forms any legal advice to you and you should not rely on it other than as a general guide to assist with preparing your ‘General Website Privacy Policy’. It has in no way been tailored for your specific business needs, circumstances and requirements; however, the final form of the document you prepare will depend on those matters. Therefore, before implementing any document based on the form set out below, you need to obtain legal assistance in order to prepare the final form of ‘General Website Privacy Policy’.

4. If you wish to use this ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template as a guide to prepare your final form of document, please note that the REINSW (including its Helpline) cannot accept any queries in relation to the ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template, its content and purpose as it is unable to provide legal advice.

5. As a consequence of the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act), if a real estate and/or strata agency business is regulated by that Act (irrespective of whether they operate as a sole trader, partnership or company or any other structure etc) it is required to comply with the Act, which includes the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). The APPs are a set of principles that entities regulated by the Act (APP entity) must comply with. There are serious consequences for failure to comply with the APPs including severe fines and penalties, compensation to the victim, Court proceedings to prosecute breaches as well as bad publicity for your practice. For more information on the APPs and their requirements, please refer to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

6. Some of the issues regarding the applicability of the APPs to real estate and strata managing agents are discussed in the drafting notes included in the ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template (which appear in yellow shading). REINSW members are urged to become familiar with the APPs and their requirements and to remain up-to-date with any changes in this area of the law. Regular privacy compliance training should be part of your strategy to address these matters.

7. Privacy Policy - One of the obligations imposed upon regulated entities (see APP 1) is to have a clearly expressed and up-to-date policy about the management of personal information. The policy must contain the following information (summarised only):

   1. the kinds of personal information that the APP entity collects and holds;

   2. how the APP entity collects and holds personal information;

   3. the purposes for which the APP entity collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information;

   4. how an individual may access personal information about themselves that is held by the APP entity and seek the correction (if necessary) of such information;

   5. how an individual may complain about a breach of the APPs by the APP entity and how the APP entity will deal with any such a complaint;

   6. whether the APP entity is likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients; and

   7. if the APP entity is likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients, the countries in which such recipients are likely to be located (if it is practicable to specify those countries in the policy).

   An APP entity must take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to make its privacy policy available (a) free of charge; and (b) in such form as is appropriate (See paragraph 9, below).

8. Privacy Collection Notice - Another obligation imposed upon regulated entities (See APP 5) is that a regulated entity that collects personal information about an individual must take reasonable steps to notify the individual of certain matters to ensure the individual is aware of those matters. This is usually done in the form of a ‘privacy collection notice’. The matters in such a notice include:

   1. the APP entity’s identity and contact details;

   2. the fact and circumstances of collection;

   3. whether the collection is required or authorised by law;

   4. the purposes of the collection;

   5. the consequences if personal information is not collected;

   6. the APP entity’s usual disclosures of personal information of the kind collected by the APP entity;

   7. information about the APP entity’s privacy policy; and

   8. whether the APP entity is likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients, and if practicable, the countries where they are located. In particular, the APPs also impose obligations on an APP entity in regards to the protection of any personal information that they transmit overseas. If this applies to you, you need to obtain independent legal advice on how to address these matters.

   An APP entity must take reasonable steps to provide the above collection details, before, or at the time it collects personal information (See paragraph 9, below). If this is not practicable, reasonable steps must be taken as soon as practicable after collection. This APP can also apply to personal information collected from publicly available sources.

9. It is the responsibility of the APP entity to be able to justify its approach as to how it drafts (and supplies) its privacy policy, privacy collection notice or a combined document of the two available. For example:

   1. some regulated entities might choose to provide a detailed privacy policy and privacy collection notice (or a combination of the two) on their websites and provide a more limited privacy collection notice and/or privacy policy on hard copy documents that cross-reference and refers readers back to their website. This may or may not be adequate depending on the nature of your real estate and/or strata agency practice and the people that it deals with;

   2. other regulated entities might choose to provide a detailed privacy collection notice and privacy policy on their websites, and make available the same document in hard copy format at their offices as well as at any open property inspections and auctions. They might also email a copy of the privacy policy and/or privacy collection notice at least once to any actual or prospective client, etc.

   REINSW is not able to advise you on what is appropriate for your practice. You will need to make that assessment within the context of the Act, the APPs and your practice. You should seek legal advice to assist you to make an informed decision in this regard.

10. Neither the Act nor the APPs currently prevent an APP entity from combining the privacy policy and the privacy collection notice into one document so long as it contains ALL of the required information in conformity with the Act and the APPs.

REINSW grants to REINSW members a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub-licensable royalty free licence to use, reproduce, modify and adapt the ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template solely for the use in their practice. No other purpose or use of the ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template is permitted or authorised in any way.

If you choose to use the ‘General Website Privacy Policy’ template then you unconditionally acknowledge each of, and agree with all of, the points referred to above.