Operational Procedure: Redacting information from charity documents

This Operational Procedure is issued under the authority of the Commissioner and should be read together with the ACNC Policy Framework, which sets out the scope, context and definitions common to our policies.

Context statement

1. This Operational Procedure sets out the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission’s (ACNC) approach to redacting information from documents to be published on the ACNC Charity Register (Register). It includes the responsibilities of charities and ACNC officers – that is, the ACNC Commissioner and staff – in identifying when information in charity documents provided to the ACNC requires redaction.
2. This Operational Procedure applies to all documents that have been submitted and reviewed by ACNC officers and are to be published on the Charity Register. This includes charities’ governing documents and annual financial reports.
3. This Operational Procedure does not apply to withholding decisions. Instead, these are managed in a way consistent with the Commissioner’s Policy Statement: Withholding or removing information from the ACNC Register.
4. This Operational Procedure aims to balance:
   1. protecting the confidentiality of information subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), and
   2. publishing information on the Register pursuant to section 40-5 of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth) (ACNC Act) alongside any approved withholding decisions.

Redacting governing documents

5. All personal information and protected ACNC information contained in a governing document must be redacted unless an exception applies. What constitutes protected ACNC information is defined in the ACNC's Protected ACNC Information Operational Procedure.
6. Where an exception in the ACNC Act allows protected ACNC information to be disclosed, the disclosure must also be lawful under the Privacy Act. Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act contains the Australian Privacy Principles, which regulate the way in which organisations and government departments can collect and use personal information.
7. If an exception in the ACNC Act applies, the disclosure of protected ACNC information must comply with Australian Privacy Principle 6 on the basis that the disclosure was ‘authorised by or under an Australian law’.
8. Before redacting information, ACNC officers must review the record of the charity in question to check if it is subject to any approved withholding requests. If such a request has been approved and is in place, the information it covers must be redacted from the document before it is published – even if it is not information that would normally be redacted.
9. Before redacting the names of individuals associated with a charity, ACNC officers must check the list of that charity's Responsible People as displayed on the Register. The ACNC:
   1. does not redact the names of current Responsible People in governing documents if their names are published on the Register. Responsible People are made aware that their names will be published on the Register as part of a charity’s registration requirements.
   2. does redact the names of individuals not currently displayed on the Register, even if they were formerly associated with the charity.

Redacting financial reports

10. Division 60 of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Regulations 2022 (Cth) (the ACNC Regulations) sets out what must be included in an annual financial report published on the Register in accordance with the ACNC Act.
11. It is a charity’s responsibility to redact information contained in its financial reports prior to submitting that report to the ACNC. Our guidance on submitting financial reports to the ACNC instructs charities to provide both redacted and unredacted versions of their financial reports.
12. ACNC officers may be required to redact financial reports that charities provide directly during investigations or when they submit approved forms.
13. ACNC officers are required to redact information from a charity’s financial report where a valid withholding decision is in place, or when sensitive information such as driver’s licenses, tax file numbers, or credit card details have been provided.
14. ACNC officers are to check the charity’s record on the Register for any withheld information before applying redactions to a financial report to be published there. Information subject to a pending withholding request should be treated as withheld information pending the ACNC’s decision on the request.

Requests to redact information

15. Charities can request that specific information be redacted from documents submitted to the ACNC and that are, or will be displayed, on the Register.
16. Any information that must be published on the Register in accordance with Division 40 of the ACNC Act can only be redacted if it is the subject of an approved withholding decision.
17. A request to redact information not mandatory for publication on the Register under Division 40 of the ACNC Act can be acted on without a formal withholding request.
18. The ACNC will accept any request from a charity to redact information already withheld from the Register and will apply the relevant redactions.
19. A formal withholding request must be submitted to the ACNC before any of the information listed in the table below can be redacted.