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Principle 2 states that personal information should be collected directly from the person it is about. The best source of information about a person is usually the person themselves. Collecting information from the person concerned means they know what is going on and have some control over their information.
It won’t always be possible to collect information directly from the person concerned so organisations can collect it from other people in certain situations. For instance:
Sometimes, information can be collected from other sources for law enforcement and court proceedings.
Further information
Case notes
Privacy Act 2020 reference
| Information privacy principle 2 | |||
| Source of personal information | |||
| (1) |
If an agency collects personal information, the information must be collected from the individual concerned. |
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| (2) |
It is not necessary for an agency to comply with subclause (1) if the agency believes, on reasonable grounds,— |
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| (a) |
that non-compliance would not prejudice the interests of the individual concerned; or |
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| (b) |
that compliance would prejudice the purposes of the collection; or |
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| (c) |
that the individual concerned authorises collection of the information from someone else; or |
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| (d) |
that the information is publicly available information; or |
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| (e) |
that non-compliance is necessary— |
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| (i) |
to avoid prejudice to the maintenance of the law by any public sector agency, including prejudice to the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution, and punishment of offences; or |
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| (ii) |
for the enforcement of a law that imposes a pecuniary penalty; or |
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| (iii) |
for the protection of public revenue; or |
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| (iv) |
for the conduct of proceedings before any court or tribunal (being proceedings that have been commenced or are reasonably in contemplation); or |
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| (v) |
to prevent or lessen a serious threat to the life or health of the individual concerned or any other individual; or |
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| (f) |
that compliance is not reasonably practicable in the circumstances of the particular case; or |
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| (g) |
that the information— |
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| (i) |
will not be used in a form in which the individual concerned is identified; or |
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| (ii) |
will be used for statistical or research purposes and will not be published in a form that could reasonably be expected to identify the individual concerned. |
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