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Last reviewed: 2026-05-04 Reviewer: M.K., CIPP/E Methodology Report inaccuracy

Jurisdiction · COUNTRY · AU

🇦🇺 Australia

Privacy Act 1988 + Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. Reform pending. Enforced by OAIC.

Privacy Act AU

What a typical site must do

Requirement Value Confidence Reviewed
analytics_exempt_cookieless yes high 2026-05-04
banner_required recommended medium 2026-05-04
breach_notification_hours 72 high 2026-05-04
consent_mode_v2_relevant recommended medium 2026-05-04
consent_model mixed high 2026-05-04
cookie_policy_required recommended medium 2026-05-04
dpf_transfers_acceptable yes high 2026-05-04
dpo_required recommended medium 2026-05-04
dsr_response_days 30 high 2026-05-04
enforcement_strictness moderate high 2026-05-04
iab_tcf_required not_applicable high 2026-05-04
language_required english high 2026-05-04
pre_consent_pings_allowed yes medium 2026-05-04
privacy_policy_required yes high 2026-05-04
reject_layer1 optional medium 2026-05-04
ropa_required recommended medium 2026-05-04

Editorial notes

Tool compliance matrix

Default-config verdict per analytics/CMP tool against this jurisdiction.

VendorStatusRationale
Addingwell greenEU-only datacenters strong for FR/DE compliance; per-event pricing scales steeply at high traffic.
Cookiebot greenDanish-based, EU-hosted. Auto-blocks third-party scripts pre-consent — verify your manual scripts also gate.
Fathom greenCookieless by design. EU-routed via Cloudflare. No DPA required for Lite tier (no PII).
Iubenda greenItalian-based, EU-hosted. Free tier limits 5k pageviews/mo; granular per-vendor controls require paid plan.
Klaro greenOpen-source, self-hosted. No managed updates — site owner maintains vendor list.
Matomo (self-hosted) greenSelf-hosted on your infrastructure. Full data control, configurable IP anon. Meets every jurisdiction with cookieless config.
Matomo Cloud greenEU-hosted with cookieless mode available. With cookies disabled qualifies for §25(2) exception in Germany.
OneTrust greenGDPR + CCPA + multi-region templates available. Common config error: GDPR/CCPA mode mismatch — verify per-region defaults.
Pirsch greenGerman-hosted, cookieless, GDPR-aligned by design.
Plausible greenEU-hosted, no cookies, no PII processed. ePrivacy-exempt for cookieless tracking. No banner required.
Stape greenEU server containers handle the routing — but server-side tagging does NOT auto-fix consent. CMP must still gate browser-side pings.
Umami greenOpen-source, cookieless, fully self-hostable. Default-green when self-hosted.
Usercentrics greenGerman-based, EU-hosted. v3 SDK required for Consent Mode v2; TCF flow can over-collect for non-AdTech sites.
Adobe Analytics yellowVisitor ID cookie + cross-suite stitching with Experience Platform. DPIA strongly recommended; configure ECID + IP obfuscation.
Amplitude yellowEU residency available on paid plans; default cloud is US. Persistent user IDs require config + DPA + DPF chain.
FullStory yellow
Google Analytics 4 yellowAPP 8 cross-border accountability; Privacy Act reform pending.
Google Tag Manager yellowContainer only — verdict depends on which tags fire and when. Block until consent. Server-side GTM in EU recommended.
Hotjar yellow
Microsoft Clarity yellow
Mixpanel yellow
PostHog yellowEU cloud helps but session recording + autocapture default to PII collection. Disable autocapture and recordings or self-host for green.
Server-side GTM (Google Cloud) yellow"EU server" ≠ EU data — clients still transmit to Google ad backends downstream. Use only for Google-ecosystem first-party-routing.
Heap redAuto-capture grabs every click and form value — broad PII risk under GDPR Art 5(1)(c) data minimization.
LinkedIn Insight Tag redLoads pre-consent if naively placed; cross-device matching broad. Block until consent + IAB TCF string set.
Meta Pixel redSchrems II concerns persist; advanced matching hashes PII but does not fix EU→US transfer problem.
TikTok Pixel redPRC-parent ownership flagged by Italian Garante and EDPB; transfers to China contested. Consent + risk acknowledgement required.