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37: Amendment and revocation of codes of practice
or “How the Commissioner can change or cancel codes of practice”
You could also call this:

“How codes of practice change the rules for privacy principles”

When there’s a code of practice in place, it changes how the Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) work. If you do something that usually goes against an IPP, but it follows the code, then it’s okay. You won’t be in trouble for breaking the IPP. This is important for Part 5 of the law.

On the other hand, if you don’t follow the code, you can get into trouble. Even if what you did doesn’t normally break an IPP, not following the code is treated as if you did break an IPP. This also matters for Part 5 of the law.

So, the code of practice can both protect you from getting in trouble and get you into trouble, depending on whether you follow it or not.

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Next up: 39: Interpretation

or “This section explains key terms used for accessing and correcting personal information”
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Part 3 Information privacy principles and codes of practice
Codes of practice

38Effect of codes of practice

  1. If a code of practice is in force,—

  2. any action that would otherwise be a breach of an IPP is, for the purposes of Part 5, treated as not breaching that IPP if the action complies with the code; and
    1. failure to comply with the code, even if the failure would not otherwise be a breach of any IPP, is, for the purposes of Part 5, treated as a breach of an IPP.

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