WMTS:542-2024 | Public Comment Draft Round 1

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) outlined in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), which regulates how entities may collect, use, disclose and store personal information.

Your personal and sensitive information is being collected by the ABCB Office to assist the ABCB to carry out its functions, to inform the consultation process and for other purposes including to communicate with individuals or organisations about their submission.

The personal and sensitive information collected as part of the submission process may be disclosed to and used by the following individuals or organisations:

• the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science or the ABCB Office, and the staff of the Department and the ABCB Office;
• the ABCB, its committees and any working groups established by the ABCB, and their staff and advisors;
• the Commonwealth Government, and State and Territory Ministers responsible for building regulation and policy, and their staff and advisors;
• other Commonwealth or State and Territory government departments and agencies;
• any consultant or contractor engaged by the ABCB for the purpose of undertaking work in respect of the subject matter of the submission process.
• any organisation for any authorised purpose with your express consent, for the purposes set out above.

Personal and sensitive information obtained will be stored and held in accordance with the ABCB’s obligations under the Archives Act 1983 (Cth). Further information about how the ABCB collects, uses and discloses personal information is set out in its Privacy Policy. 

If you have an enquiry or request relating to your personal information, please contact:

Privacy Contact Officer
Australian Building Codes Board
GPO Box 2013
Canberra ACT 2601

All submissions and comments will be published unless they are marked ‘commercial-in-confidence’. However, any contact details you provide within your submission will be redacted prior to the submission being published.

In order to promote debate and transparency, the ABCB prefers that all submissions and comments be provided in a way that does not require confidentiality to be maintained. However, it recognises that in some circumstances you may want to provide information in confidence.

It is the responsibility of the person making the submission to ensure that any ‘commercial-in-confidence’ information is clearly identified. Please consider if you can structure your response to keep only some parts confidential. If only part of your submission is confidential, you can provide the confidential part as a separate submission so that the ABCB can publish the non-confidential part of the submission.

Where confidentiality is requested for an entire submission, it will not be published by the ABCB, nor will your name or organisation details; however, see the comments below regarding Regulation Impact Statements.

Please note that we may still disclose the confidential part of your submission to any of the above identified users of the information as part of the consultation process and we will use reasonable efforts to ensure that the recipients keep the submission confidential.

Submissions for Regulation Impact Statements will be made public in accordance with the Council of Australian Government’s Best Practice Regulation: A Guide for Ministerial Councils and National Standard Setting Bodies. A summary of the views expressed in the submissions will be published as part of the Regulation Impact Statement.

The ABCB or the ABCB Office may also disclose confidential information in circumstances where:

• we are required or authorised by law disclose it;
• you agree to the information being disclosed; or
• someone other than you has made the confidential information public.

Your submission, comments, opinions and responses will not be published if the ABCB or the ABCB Office considers that your submission, comments, opinions and responses may contain potentially defamatory statements or other offensive comments.