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This page provides information on how to make a variation to an agreement. It will be of interest to all parties that are involved in data sharing.
A variation to a data sharing agreement detail changes to the terms or requirements of the agreement and must be signed by all parties. For example, a variation can extend the duration of the data sharing agreement, change the individuals allowed to access the shared data or change the shared data itself. A variation must be consistent with the original agreement (which may detail the circumstances or requirements for a variation). If the variation changes the scope, purpose or structure of the original agreement in a material manner, it may be appropriate to start a new data sharing agreement. The circumstances in which a data sharing agreement can be varied is usually discussed by parties when finalising the original agreement.
The functionality to record a variation in Dataplace will only be visible when a data sharing agreement has been finalised.
To access a data sharing agreement and associated variations, select the Manage data requests tile on the authenticated Dataplace homepage or select from the Services drop-down menu after you sign in to Dataplace.
In the Manage data requests page, you will find three tabs for managing an organisation’s data sharing requests and agreements within Dataplace. Select either the Requestor or the Custodian tab depending on your role in the data sharing agreement and open the agreement to vary.
Note: To vary a data sharing agreement, it must have a status of Pending Registration or Registered – In Effect (DATA Scheme data sharing agreements) or Agreed – In Effect (General data sharing agreements).
If a variation already exists for an agreement, a tag will be visible on the Manage data requests page.
Select the request ID and then the Variations tab on the right hand control panel. Variations will be displayed in this tab.
To start a variation, your organisation must be the Lead custodian on the original data sharing agreement. Select the Variations tab in the request form. A Start a variation button will be visible if there is no active variation activity.
Note: If your organisation is not the Lead custodian, you will see a message to contact the Lead custodian to start the variation.
Select the Start a variation button and confirm in the pop-up window that you would like to start a variation.
A new variation is created by the system and is associated with the original data sharing agreement. The variation will initially have a status of Draft and will only be visible to the Lead custodian until the variation is progressed (a notification that a new variation has been created will be sent to all parties).
While a variation form is available to make the required amendments, there is ongoing work to ensure that a Dataplace generated variation meets the legal requirements. In the meantime, a signed variation will need to be uploaded to Dataplace at the bottom of the variation form during this stage or the Collaboration in Progress stage.
Note: If the original agreement is under the DATA Scheme and there is a change to any of the foreign individuals accessing the data, it is essential that the Named individuals section of the variation form include these changes (see Foreign individuals below). This will enable updated information about the foreign individuals in the data sharing project to be sent to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) under the National Security Measures Code 2022 when the variation is completed.
Once the draft variation is completed, select the Complete button at the bottom of the screen and choose to progress the variation to either the Collaboration in Progress or the For Review stage.
Select Collaboration in Progress if a signed variation needs to be uploaded or if other parties need to edit the variation (e.g. there are foreign individuals involved). Otherwise select For Review if you have uploaded a signed variation and there is no requirement for other parties to make further changes to the variation.
The Collaboration in Progress stage is intended to enable all parties of the data sharing agreement to make edits to the variation before it progresses to For Review.
During the Collaboration in Progress stage, parties can upload a signed variation to Dataplace.
Since the Contact officers and Approving officers added to the original data sharing agreement are not transferred to the variation, it is advised that each party assigns these roles to the variation as soon as possible to ensure they receive relevant email notifications about the variation. Contributors can also be added, with the individual who starts the variation automatically added as a Contributor.
Note: Any individual who is added to a variation who did not have a role or permission to view the original data sharing agreement will be automatically provided with visibility of the original agreement.
Changes to foreign individuals accessing the data under the DATA Scheme must be included in the People section of the variation form by selecting the Named individuals checkbox. Foreign individuals that are added to a variation will be required to complete a Foreign Individual Form (the same form for finalising a data sharing agreement). The completed Foreign Individual form and an electronic copy of the variation will be sent to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) to comply with subsection 6(2) of the Data Availability and Transparency (National Security Measures) Code 2022 prior to the registration of the variation under the DATA Scheme. For more information on Foreign individuals, see the help guide: Foreign individuals.
If a foreign individual is to be removed, the individual can be selected from a drop-down list.
Once all edits to the variation survey is completed and a signed variation has been uploaded, the Lead custodian can progress the variation to For Review stage by selecting the ‘Actions’ menu (⋮) and selecting For Review. All parties will be notified of the status change in the variation.
The For Review stage allows all parties to assess the variation before it is approved by the Approving officer. The variation form is locked and cannot be edited during the For Review stage.
If Contributors, Contact officers and Approving officers have not been assigned, ensure they are added at this stage because the roles cannot be edited in the For Approval stage.
Parties can select Proceed if they are ready to Approve the variation. Otherwise, they can select Amend if the variation requires an amendment (the Lead custodian will be notified so they can return the variation to Collaboration in Progress).
The variation will automatically progress to For Approval when the last party selects Proceed. Alternatively, the Lead custodian may select For Approval from the 'Actions' menu (⋮) on behalf of all parties to progress to the For Approval stage.
The person selecting Approve must have been added as an Approving officer to the variation. If an Approving officer has not been assigned by a party, the variation can be returned to the Collaboration in progress stage.
Each party’s assigned Approving officers should select the Approve button in the right-hand control panel.
Alternatively, the Approving officer for the Lead custodian can select Approve from the ‘Actions’ menu (⋮) to finalise the variation on behalf of all parties.
After the variation is approved, the status will change to Pending Registration (for DATA Scheme agreements) or Agreed – In Effect (for General data sharing agreements).
Variations under the DATA Scheme will be registered by the National Data Commissioner. If applicable, information relating to foreign individuals and a copy of the variation will be provided to ASIO.
Note: the original agreement remains in effect until the variation is registered and 14 days following notification to ASIO has passed.
If a Lead custodian decides that a variation in the Draft stage is no longer necessary, they can delete it by selecting Delete in the ‘Actions’ menu (⋮). Once deleted, the draft variation will no longer be visible to any of the parties in the data sharing agreement.
Parties to the data sharing agreement may also decide during the Collaboration in Progress, For Review or For Approval stages that a variation to the data sharing agreement is no longer needed. The Lead custodian can select Withdraw in the ‘Actions’ menu (⋮) at any time. Once withdrawn, no further edits can be made to the variation and it will be visible in the Variations tab of the original data sharing agreement as Withdrawn.
A pop-up box will be displayed for you to provide a reason for withdrawal of the variation before selecting OK.
