Privacy

Introduction

The Commission's objective in maintaining an active and expanding Internet website is to improve communication with the community at large, specifically to:

  • make it possible to quickly provide information about its activities and
  • encourage feedback from you.

Because privacy is an important issue for many users of the Internet the Commission has formulated the following statement to reassure visitors to its website that it understands those concerns. If you have any queries or concerns about the Commission's website privacy statement and/or its more general privacy policies please use the Web feedback form (opens in new window)

Relevant legislation

Most Commonwealth government agencies and their personnel are governed by the Australian Government Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Government Crimes Act 1914. Personnel who are mainly Australian Government public servants work at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. In addition, some private sector consultants work at the Commission under contracts with terms and conditions by which they agree to comply with the Information Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act relevant to their work.

Scope

This statement applies to all users who access the Commission's website.

Accountability

The Australian Government Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Government Crimes Act 1914 may provide redress mechanisms and sanctions if users of the Commission's website suffer loss or damage as a result of a breach of those Acts by the Commission.

Users inquiring about their rights and remedies for breaches of privacy can access detailed information at the Australian Privacy Commissioner's website.

Information collected - Clickstream data

When you visit our site:

This site is operated by the ACCC using both Australian Government and commercial web hosting facilities. When visiting this site, a record of your visit is logged. The following clickstream data is recorded and is used by the ACCC for statistical purposes:
  • your server address
  • your top level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc)
  • the type of browser you are using
  • your operating system (for example Windows, Mac etc)
  • the date and time of the visit to the site
  • the pages accessed and the documents downloaded
  • the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site.

When you email us:

  • we will record your email address
  • your email address will not be added to a mailing list unless you have specifically requested this
  • your email address may be provided to other regulatory agencies to assist in addressing your complaint (for example, if your matter involves a financial product or service it may be referred the Australian Securities and Investment Commission)
  • we may also disclose your email address in accordance with the law (for example, in compliance with court orders)

When you subscribe to email alerts:

When you subscribe to email alerts you must provide an email address to which the system can send your alerts. We will not use your email address to send you unsolicited information.

When you join the ACCC site:

When you join the ACCC site we require certain information. Only members of extranet sites need to join the site.

We need:

  • your email address so that we can send you email alerts
  • a user name so that you can log on to the site
  • your first name to allow you to create content on the site and be identified as the author
  • a password to allow you to access your private information
  • a confirmation password to verify that you have correctly typed your password.

Other personal information collected by us, for example through the use of an online form or email will only:

  • be collected by lawful and fair means and
  • be used for a lawful purpose

Where you choose to send us a completed electronic form that includes your personal details, we do collect personally identifiable information, such as name, address and email address.

The information collected by email or electronic forms will be used to help the ACCC perform its duties or functions and may be provided to other regulatory agencies where appropriate. We may also disclose information in accordance with the law (for example, court orders).

However, when requested, we will seek to ensure that a complainant remains anonymous or details of the complaint itself remain confidential. As some complaints are also inherently confidential in nature, even if a complainant does not make such a request, we will seek to protect the complaint if disclosure would have a substantially adverse effect on the complainant.

Access to information collected

You may choose to become a member of the ACCC website in order to access an extranet site. When you become a member of the ACCC website you will provide such personal details as your name, email address, logon name and password. You may also choose to subscribe to email alerts on the ACCC site. We require your email address to send you alerts. This information is accessible by the web team that administers the ACCC website.

No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except in the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency or other government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect our Internet web server logs.

Secure transmissions

This website does not provide facilities for the secure transmission of information across the Internet. Users should be aware that there are inherent risks transmitting information across the Internet.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data that a website can send to your browser, which may then be stored on your computer as an anonymous tag that identifies your computer but not you. The ACCC website uses cookies to better serve you when you return to the website. You can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it. You can also set your browser to turn off cookies. If you do so, however, some pages in the site may not work properly.

Cookies can be either "persistent" or "session" based. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer, contain an expiration date, and may be used to track your browsing behaviour upon return to the issuing website. Session cookies are short-lived, are used only during a browsing session, and expire when you quit your browser.

Like all modern websites which provide dynamic and personalised information, the ACCC website, http://www.accc.gov.au, uses both kinds of cookies to provide a rich and session based experience.  

Cookies are used to enable the Commission to track users browsing patterns in order to provide statistical information to improve the usability of the website.

Complaints/inquiries

Many areas of the Commission's website offer the opportunity for people to submit queries and/or complaints or ask to be added to particular mailing addresses. If you use those facilities we will not obtain personally-identifying information about you unless you choose to provide it. 

If you wish to make a complaint or inquiry to one of our offices you can do so by sending an email, by writing, telephoning or faxing us. All of the necessary contact details are on this website.

In the case of complaints we require information such as your name, organisation and address so that we can contact you to discuss the matter. If you don't wish to give this information by email you should use one of the other means of contacting us. While the risk of anyone intercepting and misusing information transmitted by email is usually very low you should be aware that a determined individual with the right skills may be able to do this. If you prefer, you can contact us using one of the phone numbers or addresses provided in the Contacts page.

Data storage, security, use and disclosure

Under the Australian Government Privacy Act, Information Privacy Principle 4 regulates storage and security of personal information. Privacy Principles 9, 10 and 11 regulate the use and disclosure of personal information.

The Commission generally does not use information it collects from its website for any other purpose than to improve its website services or to respond to complaints, inquiries or feedback.

No data collected from the site will be disclosed to a third party except where it is legally required, such as in the investigation of a criminal offence, and in compliance with a search warrant or subpoena.

Top