Exposure Draft - Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Bill 2018
The submission to the Treasury in relation to the Exposure Draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Bill 2018 was prepared by the Law Council of Australia.
The Law Council acknowledges the assistance of the Law Society of New South Wales and the Privacy Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council in the preparation of this submission.
The Law Council’s primary concerns, and suggested recommendations, are summarised as follows:
- the Law Council is concerned the CDR Bill in its current form is overly broad, and the safeguards to be contained in the Consumer Data Rules are unknown. The Law Council recommends narrowing the scope of the Bill and prescribing matters to be addressed in the Consumer Data Rules;
- the Law Council is of the view that the CDR Bill creates new definitions, new concepts and a new regulatory structure that requires multiple regulators to work together without clear demarcations. The Law Council recommends simplifying and aligning the Bill to existing regimes, with clear cross-referencing as relevant;
- the Law Council considers there is no comparable international jurisdiction in relation to the CDR Bill. For example, there is vastly different data portable in the European Union and open banking regimes.1 Given that most data traverses across borders, this lack of interoperability may impact upon the success and uptake of the regime. The Law Council recommends that if Australia is investing in a unique regime, active steps are required to simplify where possible, and educate the community. This is critical for the public’s trust and confidence in the system; and
- the Law Council considers that the regime proposed in the CDR Bill is unnecessarily complex. The Law Council recommends the CDR Bill be amended to simplify the proposed provisions of the CDR Bill to improve accessibility of the proposed regime.