New privacy rules to protect home-based entrepreneurs

THE privacy of thousand of small business operators who work from home is now being protected under new rules demanded by the Coalition.

The ruling ends a battle for home-based entrepreneurs seeking an exemption.

THE privacy of thousand of small business operators who work from home is now being protected under new rules demanded by the Coalition.

The rules end a battle by the growing numbers of home-based entrepreneurs, many of them in the IT sector, for exemptions from requirements of the National Business Names Register.

The exemptions will not only strengthen their family privacy. They also will lessen the possibility of a trade union demanding access for an inspection - whether or not there are employees at the home.

From now on the home-based businesses will be able to opt out of registering a physical address which would have made public where the owners lived. They instead will be able to nominate a postal box address, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has ruled.

Small Business Minister Bruce Bilson said the change will also assist rural and remote businesses where mail often can't be delivered to the premises.

The address problem emerged after the previous Labor government introduced the business names register early last year.

The Coalition supported the legislation after assurances the privacy issue would be addressed, as it had been under the old state registers.

This "left proprietors, many of them mums, exposed," Mr Bilson told news.com.au.

"A year on we have finally been able to have the issue corrected and privacy assurance for home-based businesses realised," he said.

He said most home-based businesses that have already registered their business name will have to get in contact with ASIC to make any changes needed to protect their privacy.

To change your address for service to a postal address, like a PO BOX, businesses must complete the 'change of business address' transaction online using 'ASIC Connect'.

Step-by-step user guides are available from www.asic.gov.au/business-names.