Australia - Frequently asked questions
Correction of my personal information held by private sector organisations
Question 1: I think an organisation may hold incorrect information about me. What can I do?
Organisations covered by the Privacy Act have to take reasonable steps to keep personal information they hold accurate, complete and up-to-date.
If you think an organisation holds incorrect information about you, the Privacy Act says that you can ask the organisation to make corrections to that personal information. To do this, you will need to establish to the organisation that the information they hold about you is not accurate, complete and up-to-date.
However, if the organisation disagrees with you about the correction, the Privacy Act says you can ask the organisation to attach a note to the information stating that you believe that the information is not accurate, complete or up-to-date.
Question 2: How will I know for sure that an organisation holds incorrect information about me?
Sometimes it will be clear to you that the information an organisation holds about you is incorrect because you know that your information has recently changed, for example you've moved house and need to update your postal details.
In other cases, you might be given an indication that the organisation holds incorrect information about you because it has sent you a letter about a matter that you have no knowledge of or the letter contains incorrect information.
For example, perhaps you have received an offer for 'existing customers' from a business that you have not had any dealings with in the past, or an organisation is sending you a lot of information on retirement plans and you are only 23 years old.
If you think an organisation has incorrect information about you, you need to have a reasonable basis for believing an inaccuracy exists before an organisation needs to take any action to fix the mistake.
Just calling up an organisation and saying 'can you check my information is correct' probably won't be enough in most circumstances. However if you were to say to the organisation 'You have suddenly started sending me a lot of information about retirement plans and I think you might have my date of birth wrong because I'm only 23' then this allows the organisation to say: 'Actually this is part of our 'start saving for retirement NOW campaign' or 'Really? That's strange. Let me check your details'.
If you are unsure, you may wish to ask the organisation for access to the information it holds about you to confirm whether the information is incorrect. The Privacy Act gives you a general right to access the personal information that an organisation holds about you. To find out more take a look at our frequently asked questions on access.
Question 3: How can I prove to an organisation that my personal information is incorrect?
Generally you will need to prove to the organisation that it is more likely than not that the information it holds about you is incorrect.
There are many different ways that you can prove that information held about you is not accurate, complete and up-to-date. In some cases, you may be able to establish that your information is incorrect simply by drawing attention to the information and explaining an inconsistency or problem with it.
For example, an individual may say to their bank 'I think you hold incorrect information about me because you sent me a loan offer for customers with a $50,000 minimum balance, but I don't have that much.'
In other cases you may need to supply supporting information, such as letters, receipts, bank statements, diary notes, medical records, photographs, testimonies of a trusted third party and so on.
The extent to which you will need to establish that the information about you is incorrect will depend on the type of information you wish to have corrected. If an organisation has part of your name or address wrong, it could be as easy as proving your identity and current address.
In many cases, organisations will be happy to update or correct details because it is in their interests to have good quality customer data.
However sometimes the information you wish to correct is more contentious. Perhaps the organisation claims you have an outstanding account that you maintain has been paid. Or perhaps you have been refused an insurance claim or a tenancy based on evidence you think is inaccurate.
In these cases, you will probably need to provide more supporting material. If you paid the bill can you provide a receipt or a copy of your bank statement to prove you paid it? Is there some documentation you can supply to show that the reason for refusing the tenancy is based on inaccurate, incomplete or outdated information? Can you provide a medical certificate, letter from your employer, photograph or police report to support your claim for insurance?
These pieces of supporting material will help you establish to the organisation that the information is in need of correction.
Question 4: Do I have to prove beyond doubt that information about me is incorrect before the organisation must correct it?
No. Generally, an individual will need to prove only that it is more likely than not that the information is not accurate, complete and up-to-date.
However, an organisation may still not want to change the original information if it disagrees with the correction. In this situation where you and the organisation disagree about whether the information is accurate, complete and up-to-date, the Privacy Act says you can ask the organisation to attach a note to the information stating that you believe that the information is not accurate, complete or up-to-date.
Question 5: An organisation has recorded an opinion about me that I don't agree with. Is there anything I can do?
There may be circumstances where an organisation has recorded an opinion about you that you disagree with. The Privacy Act deals with 'personal information' which in the Act can include information or an opinion about an identifiable individual.
An example of when an organisation might record an opinion is when a doctor or health professional records their opinion of their patient's health. The patient may disagree with the doctor's diagnosis, but if the record contains an accurate reflection of the doctor's professional opinion, it would be difficult to establish that the opinion is 'incorrect' as such.
In any case where an individual and an organisation disagree over whether the information is accurate, complete or up-to-date, the Privacy Act says that the individual can ask to have a statement associated with the information stating that the individual believes that the information is not accurate, complete or up-to-date. Also see FAQ 6.
Question 6: Do organisations have to correct my personal information if I show that it is wrong?
The Privacy Act says that if an individual is able to establish that the information about them is incorrect, the organisation must take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
What are reasonable steps will depend on the circumstances. If leaving in the inaccuracies is likely to have adverse consequences for you, then it will generally be reasonable for the organisation to correct the information.
However, if the information forms part of a report that has been printed, it may be unreasonable to correct the mistake and reprint the report.
Similarly, if the inaccuracy appeared in the minutes of a meeting, it might be contrary to the organisation's practices to change the minutes and instead they may choose to table a correction at the next meeting.
If the information is not likely to be used again, it could be unreasonable for an organisation to correct the information. However, under the Privacy Act organisations have to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information that is no longer needed.
If you think an organisation hasn't taken reasonable steps to correct your personal information you should complain to the organisation explaining the problem and how you would like them to fix it. If they don't adequately resolve your complaint within a reasonable period of time, you can complain to our Office.
For more information on correction of personal information see our revised Information Sheet 4 - NPP 6 Access and Correction
