Privacy collection notice

This notice explains how The Australian Council for Educational ResearchLtd (ABN 19 004 398 145) (ACER) collects, uses, stores and discloses your personal information when you register for and sit the  the Financial Adviser’s Exam (the Exam).

The Exam is administered to assess the practical application of advisers’ knowledge in the following competency areas:

• Financial Advice Regulatory and Legal requirements (including Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) Chapter 7, AML/CTF, Privacy and the Tax Agent ServicesAct (TASA) 2009 (Cth);
• Financial Advice Construction – suitability of advice aligned to different consumer groups, incorporating consumer behaviour and decision making; and
• Applied ethical and professional reasoning and communication –incorporating the Financial Planners and Advisers Code of Ethics 2019 and Code Monitoring Bodies.

In the course of candidates registering for and undertaking the Exam, ACER may collect personal information (as defined in the Privacy Act 1988(Cth)) about you, including identifiers and contact details, date of birth, payment and transaction details, exam registration details, reasonable adjustment information, and information generated in connection with your exam sitting (such as identity verification information, exam results and proctoring records where applicable).

ACER collects this information to administer the Exam, manage registrations and sittings, provide candidate support (including reasonable adjustments), protect the integrity and security of the Exam, and report outcomes to relevant bodies as described below (Purpose). If you do not provide the information requested, ACER may be unable to process your registration or allow you to sit the Exam, and you may be unable to meet requirements connected with your registration as a financial adviser.

If ASIC receives personal information as described below, it will handle that information in accordance with its own privacy policy (available on ASIC’swebsite).

Sensitive information

ACER may collect sensitive information about you (for example, health information) if you apply for reasonable adjustments or otherwise choose to provide it to ACER in connection with the Exam.

Where ACER requests sensitive information, it will generally only collect and use that sensitive information with your consent or as otherwise permitted by law. By ticking the consent box during registration in the ACER portal, YOU CONSENT to ACER collecting, using, storing and disclosing relevant sensitive information for the Purpose described in this notice. If youdo not wish to provide this consent, you may still register, but ACER may be unable to assess or implement reasonable adjustments that rely on that information. Please see ‘Your rights’ below for how to contact ACER.

Disclosure of Personal Information (including sensitive information)

In pursuit of the Purpose, ACER may disclose your personal information(including sensitive information where applicable) to:

• Government or statutory bodies with an interest in the Exam (includingASIC) and, where relevant, organisations involved in establishing or administering the Exam requirements;
• Service providers engaged by ACER to assist in administering the Exam(for example, identity verification and remote proctoring providers, IT hosting and support providers, customer support providers, and assessment operations providers);
• Medical or other professionals (where you have provided relevant information) for the purpose of assessing and implementing reasonable adjustments; and
• Courts, tribunals, regulators, law enforcement agencies or other persons where ACER is required or authorised by law to do so, including in connection with investigating and resolving disputes, complaints, misconduct or integrity issues relating to the Exam.

ACER will not use or disclose your personal information for a purpose other than the Purpose described in this notice (or a directly related purpose you would reasonably expect), unless you consent or the use or disclosure ispermitted or required by law.

Transfer outside of Australia

ACER may disclose some personal information to overseas recipients inconnection with remote proctoring and related IT services (see ‘Remote proctoring’ below). At the time of preparing this notice, this may include recipients located in the United States. Where this occurs, ACER will take reasonable steps to ensure the overseas recipient handles the information inaccordance with the Australian Privacy Principles, or otherwise as permitted by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Remote proctoring

• Personal information may be provided to ACER’s remote proctoring provider (currently ProctorU/Meazure Learning) to create and manage your proctoring account and to administer your remotely proctored exam. The provider is based in the United States and information handled by the provider may bestored outside Australia. You may view ProctorU’s privacy policy at https://www.meazurelearning.com/privacy-policy;.
• To support the provision of reasonable adjustments, ACER may provide the proctoring provider with information about approved adjustments for your exam sitting (for example, additional time or other accommodations). For clarity, ACER does not provide health information to the remote proctoring provider unless you expressly request that it be provided and it is necessary for the adjustment.

ACER will handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Where ACER discloses personal information to an overseas recipient, ACER will take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles in relation to that information, unless an exception applies under the Act.

Your rights

You may request access to, or correction of, the personal information ACER holds about you, and you may make a privacy complaint.

You have the right to:

1. Request access to your personal information held by ACER;
2. Request correction of your personal information; and
3. Make a complaint about how ACER has handled your personal information.

To make a request or complaint, please refer to ACER’s Privacy Policy(available on ACER’s website) or contact ACER’s Financial Advisor’s Exam Officer at: faexam@acer.org. ACER will respond to privacy complaints in accordance with its internal complaints process. If you are not satisfied with ACER’s response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).