NSW privacy complaint -- how to correctly refer to part of HRIP Act

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faustus

Well-Known Member
26 November 2016
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3
124
Greetings.

I have a complaint against the conduct of NSW Health. It may be of interest to some that if I am correct about the conduct being a breach of privacy law, then owing to the nature of the breach, it affects more than just me. As in everyone in NSW.

Regardless, I am trying to refer to a specific clause in the Health Records and Information Privacy Act. For context, here is the relevant part. I have highlighted the specific part of the Act.

10 Limits on use of health information

(1) An organisation that holds health information must not use the
information for a purpose (a secondary purpose) other than the
purpose (the primary purpose) for which it was collected unless:

(a) Consent
the individual to whom the information relates has consented
to the use of the information for that secondary purpose, or

(b) Direct relation
the secondary purpose is directly related to the primary purpose
and the individual would reasonably expect the organisation to
use the information for the secondary purpose, or



(e) Training
the use of the information for the secondary purpose is
reasonably necessary for the training of employees of the
organisation or persons working with the organisation and:
(i) either:

(A) that purpose cannot be served by the use of

information that does not identify the individual

or from which the individual’s identity cannot

reasonably be ascertained and it is impracticable

for the organisation to seek the consent of the

individual for the use, or


(B) reasonable steps are taken to de-identify the
information, and

If necessary, the Act can be viewed in its entirely: NSW Legislation


Some questions:

1. Based upon how some parts of the Act refers to itself, my impression is that the structure is as follows:

clause: 10
sub-clause: 1

The remainder is unclear to me:

Paragraph: (e)
Sub-paragraph: (i)
? (A):

Can someone advise?

2. Am I correct that in believing that I can define whatever depth I wish, but that I need to name the deepest part referred to. I want to refer to 10(e)(i)(A). So, what is (A) called?

3. Is referring to the depth I am intending e.g. 10(e)(i)(A) considered clumsy? If so, what would be a better way to phrase refer to it?

Many thanks!
 

Rob Legat - SBPL

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
16 February 2017
2,452
514
2,894
Gold Coast, Queensland
lawtap.com
Acts have sections, so you refer to it as section ...

You’d refer to this particular provision as sub-section 10(1)(e)(i)(A). Yes it’s clunky, but it’s the easiest way. If it was a state Act (at least in Queensland, not sure about elsewhere), it would be section 10(1)(e)(i)(A), they don’t bother about ‘sub-section’ when referring to the whole thing.

After identifying the head section part, and so long as it is clear what you are referring to, you can refer to the sub-section itself. For example, “sub-section (A).....”. You don’t say, “sub-sub-sub-sub-section (A)”.

And, yes, you only go so far as you need to when referring to the provision. So, if you were talking about the consent exemption, you would only need to refer to sub-section 10(1)(a).
 
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