The Privacy Act 1993 and Information Matching

Authorised information matching is the comparison of personal information held by specified agencies with other specified agencies. A positive match occurs when two specified agencies matching personal information identify a person as appearing in both sets of data and the discrepancy sought by the match is found.

Information matching programmes are authorised under Part 10 of the Privacy Act 1993. Any authorised information matching programme must meet the reporting and management criteria defined in the Privacy Act 1993. Part 10 authorises the exchange of information and the matching of data records between specified agencies, and defines both the reporting and management requirements under which such exchanges, or data matches, may take place.

Other information sharing agreements, such as a Memorandum of Understanding and Information Sharing Agreement, are also available. They do not provide any legal authority to for information sharing but set out the obligations of each party for sharing information. Information is shared in accordance with the principles of the Privacy Act 1993.

Any type of information sharing agreement must comply with the Privacy Act 1993.

Information Matching

The Privacy Commissioner has a regulatory role to monitor the use of data matching by government departments. 'Data matching' and 'information matching' are two terms for the same process. The Privacy Act uses the term 'information matching'. Information matching programmes are approved by statute. Part 10 and Schedule 4 of the Privacy Act 1993 govern information matching.

Further Information