Terms and conditions of use

These terms and conditions govern how you use the Foreign Investment Portal.

When we say:

1. You and your – we mean you as the user of the Foreign Investment Portal
2. System – we mean the Foreign Investment Portal
3. AI – we mean Artificial Intelligence.

You are permitted to use the system to manage your personal details, submit consultation advice, track the status of consultation requests, and communicate with Treasury.

By using this system, you accept the following conditions:

1. Treasury will take all reasonable steps to mitigate cyber related risks. However, you assume all risks associated with use of the system, including:
   1. the risk of your computer, software or data being damaged by malicious codes which might be transmitted or activated via the system, or your access to it;
   2. transmissions to and from this site being intercepted and modified by third parties; and
   3. loss of information because of equipment or power failures or our servers terminating your session due to prolonged periods of inactivity.
2. Your use of this system will be logged for the purpose of security and usage monitoring.
3. Unauthorised use of this system could result in criminal prosecution. You must not access the system if access has not been issued to you and/or if your access has been revoked. If your access has been compromised, you must notify Treasury immediately.
4. Disclosing your account credentials (i.e. username and/or password) to someone else is a security issue and could result in your account being disabled. Treasury reserves the right to refuse access or terminate your account at any time.
5. When you are intending to leave your organisation permanently, or to move to a role that no longer requires access to this system, you must notify Treasury in writing to ensure that your account is disabled.
6. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at any time without notice. Any changes will be communicated to you.
7. When you have finished using the system please remember to log out. Failure to do this may result in personal information being available to unknown third parties.

Artificial Intelligence

The Treasury may use an AI Tool to assist with the evaluation of your submission. Any use of AI will not be used to automate any decision-making component of the assessment. By entering the system, you consent to the Treasury’s use of any AI Tool for evaluation of your submission.

The Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) is the key law designed to safeguard personal information collected by Government agencies. Commonwealth Government agencies (including the Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office) must comply with the Australian Privacy Principles in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act when collecting, holding, using and disclosing your personal information.

The Treasury's privacy policy can be found Privacy | Treasury.gov.au and the Australian Taxation Office's privacy policy can be found at ATO privacy policy | Australian Taxation Office. These policies contain important information about your privacy, including information about how you can access and seek correction of information those agencies hold about you, how you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how those agencies will deal with any privacy complaint.

Treasury will only collect personal information for activities undertaken in the performance of the Treasurer’s functions in relation to foreign investment, whether under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (FATA), the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Act 2015, Australia's Foreign Investment Policy, or other legislation.

Treasury routinely shares protected information with its consultation partners under subsection 121(1) and section 122 of the FATA, for the purposes of assessing foreign investment notices and applications.

Most information shared with your department during foreign investment consultation is ‘protected’ under the FATA and is subject to strict legislative requirements. You may only disclose this information to others where disclosure is authorised under the FATA.

You must not disclose or use this protected information for any other purpose or under any other provision of Part 7 of the FATA. If you make any unauthorised disclosures, you will commit an offence under section 128 of the FATA. If you are unsure whether a use or disclosure of this information is permitted, seek advice from the person who made the disclosure to you before taking any other action.

You must only use the protected information for the purpose for which it was disclosed. The information being disclosed should be treated in accordance with requirements and protections under relevant legislation such as the Privacy Act 1988 and secrecy provisions in legislation that you administer.

Treasury takes all reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure or misuse. Our Privacy policy explains how we store and protect data and our Digital and Cyber Security Strategy 2024-26 describes our strategic priorities to ensure we remain responsive to digital challenges and opportunities.

We recommend that all users take proactive steps to safeguard their online security. The Australian Cyber Security Centre provides useful advice and information about protecting yourself online.