(17)With regard to the level of protection of professional secrecy in Australia, information held by APRA, as well as all Commonwealth agencies, is subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (‘Privacy Act’). Moreover, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (‘APRA Act’) sets out detailed secrecy provisions that apply to APRA and its employees. In particular, pursuant to section 56(2) of the APRA Act, officers or former officers of APRA are guilty of an offence if they disclose ‘protected information’ or a ‘protected document’ to any person or ‘to a court’ (otherwise than in accordance with the APRA Act). Additionally, Section 70 of the Crimes Act 1914 (‘Crimes Act’) is a secrecy provision of general application to Commonwealth officers (that is to say public sector employees, including APRA staff and contractors). That provision makes it an offence for Commonwealth officers to disclose any fact or document which comes to their knowledge or into their possession as a result of being a Commonwealth officer, and which they have a duty not to disclose. Taken together, the Privacy Act, the Crimes Act and the APRA Act provide guarantees of professional secrecy, including the protection of business secrets shared by the authorities with third parties, that should be considered equivalent to those set out in Title VIII of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012.