Consultation on Identity Verification Services Rules 2024

Overview

The Attorney-General invites submissions on draft rules to be made under the Identity Verification Services Act 2023 (the IVS Act).

The IVS Act, which passed the Australian Parliament on 7 December 2023, establishes a legislative framework to support the secure and efficient operation of the identity verification services, subject to strong privacy safeguards and oversight arrangements.

The identity verification services are a series of automated national services offered by the Australian Government that government and industry use every day to verify personal information on identity documents against existing government records, such as passports, driver licences and birth certificates.

Under subsection 44(1) of the IVS Act, the Attorney-General may make rules prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed in the rules, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

The draft Identity Verification Services Rules 2024 (the draft Rules) includes the following matters, which are needed to support the effective operation of the identity verification services and are required or permitted to be made under the IVS Act:

• state and territory privacy laws and government authorities for the purposes of participation agreements
• state and territory privacy laws for the purpose of the NDLFRS hosting agreement
• fees that government authorities and non-government organisations must pay to connect to, and request the use of, the identity verification services.

Why we are consulting

Paragraph 44(1B)(a) of the IVS Act requires the Attorney-General to cause draft rules to be published on the department’s website before they are made and to invite submissions for a period of at least 28-days.

This consultation requirement reflects the Australian Government’s commitment to ensuring any proposed rules under the IVS Act aligns with the community’s expectations.

Consultation documents

We have prepared a consultation paper that provides an overview of each part of the draft Rules. We strongly encourage you to download, read and refer to this consultation paper in conjunction with the draft Rules when preparing your submission. The draft Rules are also available for download.

• Draft Identity Verification Services Rules 2024 [PDF 182 KB]
• Consultation paper – Identity Verification Services Rules 2023 [PDF 281 KB]

How to make a submission

You can provide a submission in response to the draft Rules by clicking the ‘Have your say – Make a submission’ link below. You are welcome to make your submission using the free-text box or you can upload a PDF of your submission.