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

On 13 December 2022, the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022, increasing penalties for data privacy violations, was implemented after receiving royal assent the day before. In particular, the Act expands the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner'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 expands 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.