Australia: Announced Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022 expanding the powers of data protection authority

On 22 October 2022, the Government of Australia announced its intention to submit the “Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022” (Bill), which would give the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) new enforcement powers, to the Parliament. In particular, the Bill would expand the OAIC’s powers, allowing it to conduct assessments, request additional information regarding data breach investigations, and issue infringement notices to entities that fail to comply with the requests. Furthermore, the Bill would expand the Privacy Act jurisdiction, making the foreign entities that don’t collect Australians’ data directly but are conducting business activities in Australia subject to the data protection requirements.