The law in Australia requires businesses to keep records that relate to how the business operates. This includes the money your business makes, who you hire and the location of your business. There is however no legal requirement for your business to keep customer data. Many businesses, however, keep customer data for efficiency and marketing reasons. This then begs the question, how should we handle this data?
What Counts as Customer Data?
Any information that can identify who someone is will fall under the category of customer data. Some examples are customers’ name, address, phone number, date of birth and bank account details. It is important to protect your customers’ details not only for their security, but also to build their trust in your business. It’s important to let customers know how your business handles their data by having an accessible Privacy Policy. If your business has a presence in the EU, you will need a GDPR Privacy Policy.
The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act
The APPs provide guidelines on how businesses should handle customers’ personal information. In addition to the examples of customer data above, the APPs impose stricter obligations on businesses that handle sensitive information which includes information about someone’s:
- race or ethnicity
- political opinions
- religion
- philosophical beliefs
- membership of a union
- sexual preference
- criminal record
- health information
- genetic information
- biometric information.
The APPs do not usually apply to small businesses which have an annual turnover of less than $3 million, however certain businesses will be required to comply in accordance with this checklist. In addition to these guidelines, the Privacy Act also covers specific matters such as the handling of customers’ credit information.
Although the law does not require businesses to keep customer data, there are guidelines as to the way we should handle this information. Customers can complain if they think a business has breached the Privacy Act, so to make sure your business is covered get in touch with a Privacy Lawyer today.
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