Reform of personal property securities

In November 2006, the Australian Attorney-General released a discussion paper on the proposed national personal property securities (PPS) register,Registration and Search Issues.

The discussion paper is the first in a series of three discussion papers dealing with key PPS reform policy issues. The second discussion paper will deal with priorities, conflict of laws, insolvency and enforcement issues.The third discussion paper will deal with issues specific to possessory security interests.

This review is about the creation of a national register that will consolidate all security interests that are created by a contractual agreement and which are held over personal property.

The Privacy Commissioner has released her comments on the first discussion paper.

She observed that:

Currently, it would be difficult for a casual browser to obtain all the pieces of information required to build a comprehensive profile of any one person with regard to security interests held over their personal property. The proposed register would consolidate this information into one centralised database which may allow a casual browser to more easily know all or most of the security interests held over the personal property of an individual.

The Office has some reservations about the privacy implications that may arise from the ability to develop a financial profile of any one individual, either in relation to the personal property they hold or in relation to the extent of their indebtedness or, in some cases, the extent of the security interests a particular individual holds.