Australia

CyberLaw Ecosystem

Overview

    Australia has a very mature cyber law ecosystem comprising several Acts and Regulations.

    • The Cybercrime Act 2001 was enacted by the Parliament of Australia primarily to amend the law relating to computer offences. It penalizes serious computer offences.

    • The Criminal Code Act 1995 penalizes Unauthorised access, modification or impairment; Unauthorised access etc with intent to commit a serious offence; Unauthorised access or modification of restricted data; and Possession of hacking tools.

    • The Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Act 2012 implements the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.

    • The Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987 allows for international assistance in criminal matters to be provided and obtained by Australia.

    • The purpose of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Cybercrime) Regulation 2013 is to facilitate Australia's ability to make and receive mutual assistance requests to and from States Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime in respect of the offences covered by the Convention.

    • The Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015 establishes an eSafety Commissioner and contains provisions relating to cyber bullying.

    • The Extradition Act 1988 codifies the law relating to the extradition of persons to and from Australia.

    • The Extradition (Cybercrime) Regulation 2013 read in conjunction with section 5 of the Extradition Act 1988, defines extradition countries.

    • The Privacy Act 1998 sets up a scheme for notification of eligible data breaches.

    • The Spam Act 2003 sets up a scheme for regulating commercial email and other types of commercial electronic messages.

    • The Telecommunications Act 1997 sets up a system for regulating tele-communications.

    • The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 establishes a system of preserving certain stored communications that are held by a carrier. The purpose of the preservation is to prevent the communications from being destroyed before they can be accessed under certain warrants issued under the Act.

Relevant laws