World leading online privacy law library gets big increase in capacity

A joint release by Australasian Legal Information Institute, New Zealand Privacy Commissioner and Chair of APEC Data Privacy Subgroup

Sydney, Wellington, Ottawa, 5 May 2014

A world leading online resource for privacy law is undergoing a major expansion and is inviting international privacy enforcement authorities to contribute their case reports to its growing database.

The World Legal Information Institute’s International Privacy Law Library contains the largest freely accessible and searchable collection of privacy law materials in the world.

Professor Graham Greenleaf, Co-Director of the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII), today announced the expansion of the library which he says is made possible by a grant from the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner of surplus funds from last year’s APEC Privacy Enforcement Workshop in Auckland.

The library enables online searches over more than 30 specialised privacy law databases, as well as incorporating search results of privacy cases from numerous other databases of general court cases, legal articles and legislation. The library is being constantly updated through the network of legal information institutes cooperating with WorldLII.

Prof Greenleaf explained that the library has existed for more than a decade but the recent grant allows it to add significant new materials from around the world to the collection.

“We’ve updated the existing collection of materials to incorporate new series from Europe, North America, Africa, the Pacific and Asia, as well as several specialised international series of opinions and guidance papers,” Prof Greenleaf said.

He says the expansion is not yet complete and more datasets will be added throughout 2014. AustLII had extended a standing invitation to privacy enforcement and data protection authorities to add their case report series to the library, at no cost to them. “We would like the Library to become as comprehensive of as many sources of privacy law as possible.”

The New Zealand Privacy Commissioner, John Edwards, welcomes the expansion and says he is pleased that his office has been able to support the initiative.

“Even after two or three decades, privacy and data protection law remains a comparatively new and developing area of law. I am keen to support initiatives that will make access to legal decisions simple for legal advisers, privacy officers, enforcement staff and the general public. The International Privacy Law Library is an excellent ‘one stop shop’ solution for searching privacy cases across the world,” Mr Edwards said.

“It is appropriate that the announcement that the library is now ‘bigger and better’ should be made during the Asia Pacific Privacy Awareness Week as this is a positive demonstration of regional and global collaboration to make information about privacy law widely available.”

Danile Chatelois, Chair of the APEC Data Privacy Subgroup (DPS), also welcomes the move.

“The APEC Data Privacy Subgroup has a long history of undertaking work to build privacy capacity in APEC economies. The New Zealand self-funded APEC Privacy Enforcement Workshop held last year in Auckland made an important contribution to the ongoing capacity building efforts of the DPS. The application of surplus workshop funds to enable expansion of the International Privacy Law Library is a fitting legacy of that capacity building workshop and will, I’m sure, be a useful resource for regulators, government officials and companies in the APEC region.”

Ms Chatelois says the International Privacy Law Library has been recognised as an appropriate repository for case notes generated through the APEC Cross-border Privacy Rules system and Accountability Agents are encouraged to share their case reports through this facility.

For further information
The International Law Library is accessible at: www.worldlii.org/int/special/privacy

The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) (www.austlii.edu.au) is a non-profit and free access public service facility, established in 1995 by the Law Faculties of two Australian Universities, UNSW Australia, and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). AustLII operates the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII) (www.worldlii.org) in cooperation with other free access legal information institutes, making up the WorldLII consortium.

Privacy Awareness Week (www.privacyawarenessweek.org) is an initiative of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities forum (APPA) held every year to promote awareness of privacy issues and the importance of the protection of personal information. Activities are held across the Asia Pacific region by APPA members. This year it is being held from 4 to 10 May 2014.

ENDS

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