The Attorney- General's Department has announced that the exemption for commercial credit providers (CCPs) from the external dispute resolution (EDR) membership obligation should continue indefinitely.

As advised in our Legal Insight dated 18 February 2015 "Attention Commercial Credit Providers – Deadline Looms and Uncertainty on EDR", the privacy reforms which commenced in March 2014 required CCPs, who participate in credit reporting, to be a member of an approved EDR scheme. Due to practical issues in doing this, a regulation [1] was made suspending the requirement for CCPs to be members of an approved EDR scheme until 12 March 2015.

It has been decided that the exemption will now continue. The Attorney-General has approved an amendment regulation to implement this decision to take effect from 12 March 2015.

The decision to continue the exemption was made after targeted consultation with stakeholders including privacy and consumer advocates, representatives of industry and an EDR scheme provider. After consideration of the potential costs to industry, the lack of clear evidence of a consumer detriment and current industry practices, it was decided by the Attorney-General that the temporary exemption should be made permanent.

Notes:
[1] The Privacy Amendment (External Dispute Resolution Scheme – Transitional) Regulation 2014.