18Other functions of Commissioner

1. The responsible Minister may, for any of the following purposes, request the Commissioner to provide advice on whether a binding scheme requires a foreign person or entity to protect personal information in a way that, overall, provides comparable safeguards to those in this Act:

2. to assist the Minister in deciding whether to recommend the making of regulations under section 213 prescribing the binding scheme:
3. to assist the Minister in deciding whether any regulations made under section 213 prescribing the binding scheme should be—
   1. continued without amendment; or
   2. continued with amendment; or
   3. revoked; or
   4. replaced.

4. The responsible Minister may, for the following purposes, request the Commissioner to provide advice on whether the privacy laws of a country, overall, provide comparable safeguards to those in this Act:

5. to assist the Minister in deciding whether to recommend the making of regulations under section 214 prescribing the country:
6. to assist the Minister in deciding whether any regulations made under section 214 prescribing the country should be—
   1. continued without amendment; or
   2. continued with amendment; or
   3. revoked:
7. to assist the Minister in deciding whether, for the purposes in paragraph (a) or (b)(i) or (ii), the country should be subject to any limitation or qualification of the kind specified in section 214(3).

8. For the purpose of providing advice to the responsible Minister under subclause (2), the Commissioner may assess the privacy laws of a particular country on an individual basis or on the basis of the country being a member of a bloc of countries however described (for example, the specified country being a member of the European Economic Area and therefore subject to the General Data Protection Regulation).