MOST community pharmacies in Australia will be subject to new legislation on "data breaches" when the laws come into effect on 22 Feb 2018, after being passed by Federal Parliament this week.
The Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016 means the Australian Information Commissioner and people compromised by any 'eligible data breach' must be notified.
Businesses that fail to report a breach face fines of up to $360,000 for individuals and $1.8 million for organisations.
The law applies to data breaches where there is unauthorised access to or disclosure of personal information, or a loss of personal information held by an entity; that is likely to result in serious harm to one or more individuals; and that the entity has not been able to prevent the risk of serious harm with remedial action.
The Pharmacy Guild says it will be providing further information to support members with their obligations under the new laws in the coming weeks.
More details at oaic.gov.au.
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