If the agency has not received an application to establish or recognise a maintenance liability under this Convention information about a person is unable to be provided to an overseas authority, other than the exception below. There is no provision in the Convention that expressly provides for the sharing of information pre application - so section 121B(b) would not be satisfied.
If the agency has received an application to establish or recognise a maintenance liability under this Convention then certain information can be exchanged. The information exchanged must only be for the purposes of Child Support legislation and the Convention.
Exception
If the request for information is from an overseas authority and is for the purpose of this Convention and no application has been received then the agency can only provide the overseas authority with confirmation that the person is in Australia. The overseas authority can then forward the application.
Note: in this circumstance do not provide any other information regarding the person including address, customer or case numbers.
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