# Destroying identifying information

> act-s336K — as in force on 2026-06-04 — C2026C00232 · Compilation No. 171 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026C00232/latest/text

336K Destroying identifying information
          (1) A person commits an offence if:
               (a) the person is the responsible person for identifying
                   information; and
               (b) the identifying information is not of a kind that may, under
                   section 336L, be indefinitely retained; and
               (c) the person fails to destroy the identifying information as soon
                   as practicable after the person is no longer required under the
                   Archives Act 1983 to keep the identifying information.
               Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years, or 120 penalty units, or both.
               Note:      See section 24 of the Archives Act 1983 (particularly paragraphs
                          24(2)(b) and (c)) on the obligation to keep the identifying information.

          (2) This section does not apply if the identifying information is:
               (a) a personal identifier that is any of the following:
                      (i) a measurement of a person’s height and weight;
                     (ii) a photograph or other image of a person’s face;
                    (iii) a person’s signature; or
               (b) identifying information derived from or relating to such a
                    personal identifier.
               Note:      A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in
                          subsection (2) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code).

          (3) For the purposes of this section, the responsible person for
              identifying information is:
                (a) if the identifying information is stored on a database—the
                    person who has day-to-day control of the database; or
                (b) otherwise—the person who has day-to-day responsibility for
                    the system under which the identifying information is stored.
          (4) Identifying information is destroyed if:










                 (a) in the case of identifying information that is a personal
                     identifier—it is physically destroyed; and
                 (b) in any other case—any means of identifying it with the
                     person to whom it relates is destroyed.