Privacy collection notice for the Building Certifiers' Portal

Who we are

Your information is being collected by the Building Commission NSW, as part of the Department of Customer Service (DCS).

Building Commission NSW gives priority to protecting the privacy of your personal information, in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIP Act).

If you have any questions about this document, or how we handle your personal information, you can contact our Privacy team using the contact details at the end of this notice. 

Why we collect your personal information

Building Commission NSW as part of the Department of Customer Service, is collecting your personal information through this portal for the purpose of assessing and determining your application under the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018 (B&DC Act) and to maintain a public register of registered certifiers as required by the B&DC Act and Building and Development Certifiers Regulation 2020 (B&DC Reg). 

What personal information we collect 

We may collect the following information:

• your full name, residential address and contact details such as phone number and email address
• information about your identity such as date of birth, passport and driver licence
• business contact details such as email address, phone number and address
• employment information such as your occupation and work history
• details of your qualifications and experience
• professional indemnity policy details
• information about your personal circumstances such as driving offences or spent convictions
• statements about you in the form of referee comments
• payment information such as your banking details. 

Are you required by law to provide us with this information? 

You are legally required under the B&DC Act and B&DC Reg to provide this information and any/or other personal information reasonably required for us to assess your application.  

If you choose not to provide us with the requested information, we may not be able to progress your application. 

How we may use this information 

We may use the personal information we collect about you to assess and administer your application under the B&DC Act.

• For internal administrative purposes, including liaising with you in relation to your application and in relation to compliance, investigations and enforcement of the B&DC Act and B&DC Reg or any other relevant Acts and Regulations.
• To administer and update your application and registration, including to send you information that we consider important such as reminders to renew registration and to confirm your details if you make any subsequent applications in relation to any registration, licence or authority issued by Building Commission NSW, on behalf of the Department of Customer Service.
• To record information on a public register which is published online, as required by the B&DC Act and B&DC Reg. This may include your name, place of business address, contact details, registration type, insurance details, associated compliance history and details of any other Building Certifier registration you hold and any relevant conditions. 
  
  In exceptional circumstances it is possible for some or all personal information to be suppressed or removed from a public register. However, personal information will not be suppressed if Building Commission NSW on behalf of the Department of Customer Service, considers that the public interest in maintaining public access to the information outweighs any individual interest in suppressing the information.
• To verify your documents with a document verification service.
• In a deidentified form, to support more informed policy making, program management, evaluation, research and service planning.
• Other directly related purposes. 

Who we may share your information with 

We may disclose this information with certain public or private entities, e.g. registered training organisations to verify the information you have provided in support of your application or for the purpose of performing a referee check.

It may also be disclosed in an emergency to help prevent a serious or imminent threat to life or health or for law enforcement purposes or where we are authorised or required to do so by law.

We may disclose your personal information to other NSW Government agencies or other State or Territory governments and/or the Commonwealth government for any compliance, enforcement and investigation purposes as required or authorised by law.

Other than as outlined above, we will not provide your personal information to anyone else unless we are authorised or permitted to do so by law or where you have given consent.  

The DCS Privacy Management Plan describes when this may occur. 

Protecting your information 

We will store and manage your information in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002. We have measures in place to help protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.

We will only keep information for as long as we need it to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. After which, the information will be disposed of securely in accordance with the State Records Act 1998 and any other applicable legislation.

See the DCS Privacy Management Plan for more information about how we handle your personal information. 

Your rights

You have a legal right to access and update your personal information. For more information about how to access or amend your personal information, please contact us at:

Email: buildingcommission@customerservice.nsw.gov.au or

Post:
Privacy Coordinator
Building Commission NSW
PO Box 226
Parramatta 2124

For further details on how Building Commission NSW, as part of Department of Customer Service collects and manages personal information, please see our Privacy Notice and DCS Privacy Management Plan.

Building Commission NSW is located at 4 Parramatta Square, 12 Darcy Street, Parramatta NSW 2154.

Department of Customer Service is located at the McKell Building, 2-24 Rawson Place, Haymarket NSW 2000.