1   Short title

                   This Act is the Privacy (COVID Check-in Data) Act 2021 .

2   Commencement

             (1)  Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Note:          This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally enacted. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this Act.

             (2)  Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this Act. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this Act.

3   Act binds Crown

                   This Act binds the Crown in each of its capacities.

4   Object of this Act

                   The main object of this Act is to assist in preventing and controlling the entry, emergence, establishment or spread of COVID into Australia or any part of Australia by providing stronger privacy protections for COVID check-in data in order to:

                     (a)  encourage public acceptance and use of COVID check-in apps; and

                     (b)  enable faster and more effective contact tracing.

5   Definitions

                   In this Act:

Commonwealth, State or Territory authority includes:

                     (a)  the Commonwealth or an authority or agency of the Commonwealth; and

                     (b)  a State or an authority or agency of a State; and

                     (c)  a Territory or an authority or agency of a Territory.

COVID means the coronavirus known as COVID-19.

COVID check-in app means a mobile app that is made available or has been made available (including before the commencement of this Act) to the public by or on behalf of a Commonwealth, State or territory authority for the purpose of facilitating COVID contact tracing.

COVID check-in data means data relating to a person that has been collected or generated (including before the commencement of this Act) through the operation of a COVID check-in app.

COVID contact tracing means contact tracing for the purposes of preventing and controlling the entry, emergence, establishment or spread of COVID into Australia or any part of Australia.

de-identified has the same meaning as in the Privacy Act 1988 .

enforcement related activity has the same meaning as in the Privacy Act 1988 .

mobile app means an app that is designed for use on a mobile device.

6   Ban on using COVID check-in data for enforcement related activity

             (1)  A Commonwealth, State or Territory authority must not use or disclose COVID check-in data for the purposes of enforcement related activity.

             (2)  To avoid doubt, subsection (1) does not apply to a Commonwealth, State or Territory authority using or disclosing:

                     (a)  data that the authority obtained from a source other than directly or indirectly from a COVID check-in app; or

                     (b)  de-identified statistical information.

Example:    Paragraph (a)—a Commonwealth, State or Territory authority obtains data indirectly from a COVID check-in app if the authority obtains the data from another Commonwealth, State or Territory authority that obtained the data from a COVID check-in app.

7   Constitutional basis of this Act

                   This Act relies on the Commonwealth’s legislative powers with respect to matters that are peculiarly adapted to the government of a nation and cannot otherwise be carried on for the benefit of the nation.

8   Additional operation of this Act

             (1)  In addition to section 7, this Act also has effect as provided by this section.

             (2)  This Act also has the effect it would have if a reference in this Act to COVID check-in data were expressly confined to COVID check-in data that was collected or generated using a service of a kind to which paragraph 51(v) of the Constitution applies (postal, telegraphic, telephonic and other like services).

             (3)  This Act also has the effect if would have if it were expressly confined to giving effect to Australia’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights done at New York on 16 December 1966 ([1980] ATS 23), and in particular Article 17 of the Covenant, in relation to COVID check-in data.

Note:          The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is in Australian Treaty Series 1980 No. 23 ([1980] ATS 23) and could in 2021 be viewed in the Australian Treaties Library on the AustLII website (http://www.austlii.edu.au).

             (4)  This Act also has the effect it would have if a reference in this Act to COVID check-in data were expressly confined to COVID check-in data that was collected or generated for the purposes of quarantine (within the meaning of paragraph 51(ix) of the Constitution).