Australia Post National Police Check Terms and Conditions

In these terms and conditions, unless the context requires otherwise:

Agreement means the agreement between Australia Post and You that is formed when You submit an Application and You are presented with an electronic request to accept these Terms and Conditions and You select ‘Submit & Continue’.

Applicant means a natural person who is applying to access the National Police Check Service to purchase a NCCHC through Australia Post.

Application means Your application to access the National Police Check Service and includes for the avoidance of doubt, the NCCHC Application and the NCCHC Exceptional Circumstances Application (as the case may be).

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission or ACIC means the Commonwealth of Australia represented by ACIC, which is responsible for administering the provision of the NCCHC.
Exceptional Circumstances means those circumstances described in the NCCHC Exceptional Circumstances Application that affect You and which result in Your inability to provide the minimum proof of identity documents required in the NCCHC Application.

Exceptional Circumstances means those circumstances described in the NCCHC Exceptional Circumstances Application that affect You and which result in Your inability to provide the minimum proof of identity documents required in the NCCHC Application.

GST has the same meaning as defined in section 195 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth).

National Police Check Service means the service provided by Australia Post, including the Verification Service, which enables You to purchase and receive a NCCHC.

Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check, or NCCHC, means the performance of a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check by ACIC, commonly called a police check, to produce a certificate that shows police information including any disclosable court outcomes and pending charges relating to the Applicant in Australia.

NCCHC Application means the application in Your name to access the National Police Check Service to purchase a NCCHC.

NCCHC Exceptional Circumstances Application means the application in Your name to access the National Police Check Service to purchase a NCCHC when, due to Exceptional Circumstances, You are unable to provide the minimum proof of identity documents required in the NCCHC Application.

Parent means an Applicant’s biological parent or legal guardian.

Spent Convictions means convictions that are not required to be disclosed in certain circumstances due to the operation of spent convictions legislation, which may include convictions for less serious offences for which the waiting period has ended, where a pardon for an offence is granted or where the conviction is quashed.

Standard NCCHC means a NCCHC performed in relation to an Applicant that is not a Volunteer NCCHC.

Store My Details for Reuse Service means the retention, by Australia Post, of the Personal Information You have provided to Australia Post as part of the National Police Check Service to enable future NCCHC’s to be obtained, as detailed in Schedule 1.

Verification Service means the performance of an identity check by Australia Post for You as a part of the National Police Check Service.

Volunteer means a person who:

(a) freely holds a position or performs a role on a voluntary basis; or

(b) is not an employee or contractor and will not be entitled to a salary or any other entitlements associated with the position or role, other than payment of out of pocket expenses; or

(c) is a student undertaking a compulsory vocational placement as a requirement of an Australian-based academic institution or training course.

Volunteer NCCHC means a NCCHC performed in relation to an Applicant who is a Volunteer.

You and Your means an Applicant, and/or a Parent of an Applicant, for the National Police Check Service who enters into an Agreement with Australia Post for the National Police Check Service.

The following conditions apply to Your use of the National Police Check Service:

(a) The Verification Service is provided to You by Australia Post. You must provide Australia Post with the minimum proof of identity documents described in the NCCHC Application.

(b) Where You cannot comply with the requirements of paragraph 2(a) due to Exceptional Circumstances that affect You, You must meet the minimum requirements described in the NCCHC Exceptional Circumstances Application.

(c) Where the Verification Service is supplied wholly online, information that You supply in the course of using the Verification Service will be used by Australia Post to be matched against official records held by government authorities and results will be provided to us via a third-party system.

(d) The NCCHC is provided by Australia Post, an ACIC-accredited organisation. Australia Post relies on the information provided to it from ACIC to supply the NCCHC.

(e) Where an Applicant is under 18 years of age, the Applicant’s Parent must:

(i) submit an Application on behalf of the Applicant;

(ii) give their informed consent to the Application;

(iii) warrant they are the Parent of the Applicant; and

(iv) attend in person, with the Applicant, at a participating Post Office to complete the application process, which will include Australia Post verification of the Parent’s identity via presentation of the Parent’s own proof of identity document (unless Exceptional Circumstances apply, in which case please refer to the requirements described in the NCCHC Exceptional Circumstances Application).

(f) Applications submitted on behalf of an Applicant who is under 10 years of age will not be accepted.

(g) Unless You are the Parent of an Applicant who is under the age of 18, and You are submitting an Application on behalf of that Applicant (in accordance with clause 2(e) of these terms and conditions), You must not submit an Application on behalf of another person.

(h) Australia Post is accredited to provide Standard NCCHCs and Volunteer NCCHCs. You must not apply for a Volunteer NCCHC unless you are a Volunteer.

(i) Australia Post is not responsible for, and cannot change, modify or adapt the police information provided in a NCCHC.

(j) You must supply full and accurate information whenever requested to do so in the course of applying for a NCCHC and using the National Police Check Service and/or the Store My Details for Reuse Service.

(k) Australia Post cannot expedite the NCCHC process. Your Application may require manual processing by a police agency which may cause a significant delay in the time taken to receive your NCCHC result, in some cases in excess of 15 business days.

(l) Spent Convictions may appear on the NCCHC if You apply for certain categories of NCCHC for which exclusions in the relevant Spent Convictions legislation applies.

(m) You acknowledge and consent to Australia Post, as an ACIC-accredited body, disclosing Your NCCHC to Your employer/the organisation requesting the NCCHC (where applicable).

(n) You acknowledge and understand that withholding, or providing misleading or false, details is a Commonwealth offence which may lead to prosecution in accordance with the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

A NCCHC is provided subject to the following:

(a) A NCCHC provides a point in time check about the Applicant for an authorised NCCHC category and purpose. Information obtained through this check should not be used for any other purpose.

(b) The accuracy and quality of information provided in an NCCHC depends on accurate identification of the Applicant which is based on information (including aliases) about the Applicant provided in the Application and the comprehensiveness of police records.

(c) You acknowledge and agree that Australia Post makes the NCCHC available on the following conditions:

(i) Australia Post makes no representation or warranty of any kind in respect of the accuracy or otherwise of the NCCHC; and

(ii) Australia Post does not accept responsibility or liability for any omission or error in the information provided in the NCCHC; and

(ii) You will be solely responsible for ascertaining whether a NCCHC will meet your requirements and/or the requirements of the organisation that you intend to receive the NCCHC.

(d) While every care has been taken by ACIC to conduct a search of police history information held by it and Australian police agencies that relate to the Applicant, a NCCHC may not include all police history information about the Applicant. Reasons for certain information being excluded from the NCCHC include the operation of laws that prevent disclosure of certain police history information, or that the Applicant’s record is not identified by the search process across historical police information held by Australian police agencies.

(e) The NCCHC is a point-in-time check and should not be relied upon for an unreasonable amount of time.

(f) You will be notified of the result of Your NCCHC and You will be provided with a reasonable opportunity to respond to, or validate, the information in, and the result of, the NCCHC.

(g) To the extent permitted by law, neither ACIC nor Australian police agencies accept responsibility or liability for any error or omission in the information contained in the NCCHC.

(h) The information in a NCCHC has been obtained according to the following process:

(i) ACIC searching its data holdings for potential matches with the name(s) of an Applicant;

(ii) ACIC and the relevant Australian police agencies compare name matches of an Applicant with police information held in Australian police records;

(iii) The relevant Australian police agency identifies any police history information held in its police records in relation to an Applicant and releases the information to ACIC subject to relevant spent convictions legislation or information release policies; and

(iv) ACIC provides the resulting police information of an Applicant to Australia Post.

(i) Subject to paragraph 3(j), Australia Post may give any communication or document, including the results of the NCCHC, to You in writing by:

(i) emailing the communication or document to the email address nominated by You in your Application; or

(ii) making the communication or document available through any online portal or system Australia Post makes available to You for the purposes of this Agreement.

(j) Where Australia Post provides You with access to an online portal or system for the purposes of this Agreement, You must:

(i) ensure that You have and maintain the equipment (including any systems and programs) and expertise necessary to properly use the online portal or system;

(ii) comply with the terms of use applicable to any such portal or system from time to time;

(iii) not do, or fail to do, anything which would reasonably be expected to compromise the security or integrity of any such portal or system; and

(iv) use any such portal or system only for the purpose of receiving or accessing communications or documents (including the results of the NCCHC) from Australia Post.

(k) Communications and documents in relation to your Application made available to You via an electronic channel will be taken to have been provided by Australia Post:

(i) when sent (in the case of email); or

(ii) when made accessible to You (in the case of any other electronic channel, including an online portal or system).

(l) Results of the NCCHC made available to You via an electronic channel will remain accessible to You via that electronic channel for a period of 12 months from the date it was made available by Australia Post.

(m) If You request a hard copy of the results of the NCCHC, You will receive the hard copy purchased by Registered Post to the address nominated by You.
 

4.1 Disputing information in NCCHC when the Applicant is 18 years of age or older

(a) If Your employer/ organisation has requested and arranged for You to undertake a NCCHC and You wish to dispute the information in, or the result of, Your NCCHC, You should direct that dispute to Your employer/ the organisation in the first instance. If Your employer/the organisation subsequently directs Your dispute to Australia Post, You must complete the dispute form (PDF 73kB) and follow the dispute process. You may be required to provide Your fingerprints in order to progress Your dispute.

(b) If You have arranged to undertake a NCCHC other than as is contemplated by paragraph 4.1(a) and You wish to dispute the information in, or the result of, the NCCHC, You should direct that dispute to Australia Post. You must complete the dispute form (PDF 73kB) and follow the dispute process. You may be required to provide Your fingerprints in order to progress Your dispute.

4.2 Disputing information in NCCHC when the Applicant is under 18 years of age

Both an Applicant and the Applicant’s Parent (being the Parent who provided their informed consent to the Applicant’s Application) may dispute the information in, or the result of, the Applicant’s NCCHC. To do so, the Applicant and his/her Parent must complete the dispute form (PDF 73kB) and follow the dispute process. The Applicant may be required to provide their fingerprints in order to progress the dispute.

(a) Unless Your employer/ organisation that has requested and arranged for You to undertake a NCCHC has agreed to pay the fees for Your NCCHC on Your behalf, You must pay Australia Post the relevant fee set-out in the Application.

(b) Fees for the National Police Check Service may be varied at any time at Australia Post's discretion.

(c) Fees are GST inclusive where GST is applicable.

(d) If the NCCHC has been initiated with ACIC, You will not be entitled to a refund for the reason that You provided inaccurate or insufficient information, changed your mind, or did not ascertain if the NCCHC was suited to your requirements.

(a) Except to the extent expressly provided in clause 6(b), Australia Post will not be liable to You or any person for any loss or damage whatsoever suffered, or that may be suffered (including but not limited to direct and indirect or consequential loss) as a result of any act or omission, whether negligent or otherwise, by or on behalf of Australia Post in relation to the provision of the National Police Check Service and the Store My Details for Reuse Service or any other matter or thing relating to this Agreement, except to the extent of fraud or wilful misconduct by Australia Post.

(b) Australia Post disclaims all conditions and warranties, express or implied, other than those contained in this Agreement, in respect of the provision of the National Police Check Service and the Store My Details for Reuse Service. If any condition or warranty is implied into this Agreement pursuant to any legislation (including without limitation the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) and the legislation avoids or prohibits provisions in a contract excluding or modifying the application, or exercise of, or liability under such condition or warranty, the condition or warranty will be deemed to be included in this Agreement, provided that, where it is fair and reasonable to do so, Australia Post's liability for breach of the condition or warranty shall, if the legislation so permits, be limited to:

(i) the re-supply of the National Police Check and/or Store My Details for Reuse Services; or

(ii) the cost of re-supply of the National Police Check and /or Store My Details for Reuse Services,

in respect of which the breach occurred, and otherwise will be limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

(c) You shall release and indemnify Australia Post in respect of any action, proceeding, claim, demand, prosecution, loss, claim or damage whatsoever (including legal expenses on a full indemnity basis) which Australia Post may suffer or incur in connection with Your fraud or mis-statement of fact. You are not obliged to indemnify Australia Post to the extent that the loss, claim or damage is incurred as a direct result of Australia Post’s fraud or wilful misconduct.

(d) Australia Post shall not be in default under the terms of this Agreement nor liable for failure to observe or perform in accordance with any provision of this Agreement for any reason or cause which could not with reasonable diligence be controlled or prevented by it, including without limitation, war, insurrection, riot, civil commotion, strikes, lock-outs, labour or industrial disputes, acts of God, acts of Governments or flood, storm, tempest, power shortages or power failure, system outages or interruptions, inability to obtain sufficient labour, raw materials, fuel or utilities. During the period of an incident or incidents of "Force Majeure" this Agreement shall be suspended.

(a) Australia Post may cease to offer the National Police Check and Store My Details for Reuse Services at any time.

(b) Australia Post may, in its sole and absolute discretion, refuse to provide the National Police Check and Store My Details for Reuse Services and terminate this Agreement if:

(i) in Australia Post's opinion, any information or instruction You have submitted in Your Application is incorrect or incomplete; or

(ii) Australia Post suspects that Your request for supply of the National Police Check Service is, or could be, unlawful.

(c) Australia Post may terminate this Agreement by written notice to You if You breach it.

(d) A NCCHC initiated and paid for before any cessation, suspension or termination will, in Australia Post’s discretion:

(i) be completed; or

(ii) a refund will be provided to You;

unless You are in breach of the Agreement.

This Agreement is governed by, and shall be construed in accordance with the laws in force in the State of Victoria, Australia, and the courts and registries of courts in that State shall have jurisdiction in the event of a dispute.

Information about privacy is available at https://auspost.com.au/privacy.

If you require customer service information or assistance you should contact Australia Post on 13 7678 (Australia) or +61 3 8847 9045 (overseas).