Former IBM Australia MD to chair govt data standards body

Andrew Stevens announced as interim chair of body charged with developing standards for the new Consumer Data Right

Andrew Stevens, the former managing director of IBM Australia, has been appointed interim chair of the Data Standards Body for the Consumer Data Right.

The government in November announced that it would legislate the new right, which will give consumers access to a range of the data that businesses hold about them. The move came in response to the recommendations of a Productivity Commission (PC) inquiry.

The new data access regime will begin with the implementation of an open banking scheme.

The government has said that data relating to energy, phone and Internet usage will also be covered by the regime. It may encompass further sectors down the track, the government has said.

The particular data that will be available to consumers will be determined on a sector-by-sector basis.

The government revealed in May 2018 that it would spend $65 million over four years on its open data push, including creating the Consumer Data Right. 

The new Data Standards Body will sit within the CSIRO’s Data61 division. Treasurer Scott Morrison said it will help develop “data sharing standards that provide consumers with safe, convenient, and timely methods of accessing and transferring their data to trusted and accredited data recipients”.

The government has said that the Consumer Data Right will be introduced primarily through changes to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner will oversee individual consumer complaints related to the new system, while the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission “will focus on ensuring the system as a whole operates as intended, including supporting competition and good consumer outcomes,” the government said in its response to the PC inquiry.

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Tags open dataData61Consumer Data Right

More about AustraliaAustralian Competition and Consumer CommissionCSIROIBMIBM AustraliaProductivity Commission

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