Compliance guide
Yes. Recruiters in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, and Singapore can generally record calls with candidates, clients, and contractors when everyone on the call is told at the start that it is being recorded. The detail varies: some Australian states require every party's consent while others let a participant record, and privacy law in each country governs how recordings and transcripts are stored. Announcing the recording at the start of every call is the safe, common practice across all of them.
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At a glance
Recruiters call candidates, clients, and contractors across borders every day. Here is how the rules compare in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, and Singapore, with the detail for each below.
NSW, WA, SA, Tasmania, and the ACT require the consent of every party to the conversation, subject to narrow exceptions. Victoria, Queensland, and the NT let a participant record, with limits on sharing. The Privacy Act 1988 governs how recordings are stored and used.
The Crimes Act 1961 allows a party to a conversation to record it. The Privacy Act 2020 expects agencies to tell people when they collect personal information, such as a call recording, and why.
Businesses can record calls on their own systems for purposes such as record-keeping under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, after making all reasonable efforts to tell people calls may be recorded. UK GDPR requires a lawful basis and clear privacy information.
Irish interception law does not treat listening or recording as interception where either the caller or the person called has consented. GDPR then governs the recording: be transparent, have a lawful basis, and answer access requests on time.
Under the PDPA, consent is valid only when the person has been told the purposes for collecting their personal data. Agencies notify the purpose, keep recordings only as long as needed, and give access on request.
Tell everyone on the call that it is being recorded, at the start, and why. Explain it in your privacy policy, keep recordings only as long as you need them, and be ready to provide a copy on request.
Australia
Phone calls are covered by the federal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. Section 7 prohibits intercepting a communication passing over a telecommunications system, and section 6 defines interception as listening to or recording a communication in its passage over the system without the knowledge of the person making it. When you tell the other person at the start that the call is recorded, they make the call with that knowledge.
Each state and territory also has its own surveillance or listening devices law, and the consent rules differ. Some let a party to a private conversation record it. Others require the consent, express or implied, of every principal party, with narrow exceptions such as a recording reasonably necessary to protect a party's lawful interests. Most also restrict sharing a recording with people who were not on the call. Because recruiters call across state lines all day, the practical approach is to follow the strictest rule on every call: tell everyone at the start.
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| State or territory | Main law | Can a party to the call record it? |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Surveillance Devices Act 2007, s 7 | Consent of all principal parties, unless a narrow exception applies, such as protecting a lawful interest |
| Victoria | Surveillance Devices Act 1999, ss 6 and 11 | A party can record. Communicating or publishing the recording is restricted |
| Queensland | Invasion of Privacy Act 1971, ss 43 and 45 | A party can record. Communicating or publishing the recording is restricted |
| Western Australia | Surveillance Devices Act 1998, s 5 | Consent of each principal party, or one party where reasonably necessary to protect their lawful interests |
| South Australia | Surveillance Devices Act 2016, s 4 | Consent of all principal parties, or where reasonably necessary to protect the lawful interests of the person recording |
| Tasmania | Listening Devices Act 1991, s 5 | Consent of all principal parties, unless a narrow exception applies, such as protecting a lawful interest |
| Australian Capital Territory | Listening Devices Act 1992, s 4 | Consent of each principal party, unless a narrow exception applies, such as protecting a lawful interest |
| Northern Territory | Surveillance Devices Act 2007, ss 11 and 15 | A party can record. Communicating or publishing the recording is restricted |
The exceptions in the all-party states are narrow and depend on the facts, so agencies treat announcing the recording as the standard for routine business calls rather than relying on an exception.
Privacy Act 1988
A recording of a call with a candidate or client contains personal information, and so do its transcript and AI summary. The Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles apply to organisations with annual turnover above $3 million, and to some smaller businesses, including any business that sells or purchases personal information. The OAIC's guidance on AI products confirms that privacy obligations apply to personal information put into an AI system and to AI output that contains it.
The Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 10 December 2024. It made clear that the reasonable steps required by APP 11 include technical and organisational measures, and it created a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy, which commenced on 10 June 2025. From 10 December 2026, privacy policies must also explain where a computer program uses personal information to make, or do something substantially and directly related to making, a decision that could significantly affect a person's rights or interests.
A second tranche of reform, the Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026, was released as an exposure draft by the Attorney-General's Department for consultation from 31 August to 18 September 2026.
New Zealand
Section 216B of the Crimes Act 1961 makes it an offence to intentionally intercept a private communication with an interception device, but it does not apply where the person intercepting is a party to that communication. A recruiter can record their own call.
The Privacy Act 2020 then governs the recording. Information privacy principle 3 sets out what to tell people when you collect information from them, principle 4 covers the manner of collection, principle 5 storage and security, principle 6 access, and principle 9 retention. The Privacy Commissioner says an agency generally must tell people when it is collecting their personal information, and that recording someone without telling them might be unfair. A new principle 3A, covering information collected from other sources, came into force on 1 May 2026.
United Kingdom
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 makes unlawful interception an offence under section 3. Interception has lawful authority where both the sender and the intended recipient consent (section 44), or where business monitoring regulations made under section 46 authorise it.
Those regulations, the Investigatory Powers (Interception by Businesses etc. for Monitoring and Record-keeping Purposes) Regulations 2018, let a business monitor or record communications on its own system for purposes that include establishing the existence of facts and checking compliance with regulatory or self-regulatory practices. The business must have made all reasonable efforts to inform every person who may use the system that their communications may be intercepted.
UK GDPR then applies to the recording. You need a lawful basis, often legitimate interests, and the ICO uses recording helpline calls for staff training as an example of a legitimate business interest. Tell people in your privacy information, keep recordings no longer than you need them, and answer subject access requests within one month with a reasonable and proportionate search. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 also requires organisations to have a process for data protection complaints, which the ICO confirms commenced on 19 June 2026.
Ireland and Singapore
Section 98 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983, as amended by the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993, defines interception so that it does not include listening or recording where the person sending or the person receiving the message has consented.
GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 govern the recording itself, including transparency, a lawful basis, and access requests. In 2020 the Data Protection Commission reprimanded Ryanair after it failed to provide a caller's recording in response to an access request, having deleted it under its retention policy while the request was delayed.
Under section 14(1) of the Personal Data Protection Act 2012, a person has not given consent unless they have been told the purposes for which their personal data will be collected, used, or disclosed.
The PDPA's retention limitation obligation in section 25 requires organisations to stop retaining personal data once the purpose is no longer served and it is not needed for legal or business purposes, and individuals can ask for access to the personal data an organisation holds about them.
For agencies
Open every recorded call with one line, such as "Just so you know, I record my calls so I have accurate notes. Is that OK?" If someone would rather not be recorded, respect it and agree how to continue.
Use your IVR greeting to tell callers that calls may be recorded, and why, before they reach a recruiter. That covers candidates and clients who call you.
Explain that you record, transcribe, and summarise calls with AI, why you do it, where the recordings are stored, and which providers process them.
Decide how long you need recordings and transcripts for each purpose, write it down, and delete or de-identify them when that period ends.
Know how to find every recording, transcript, and summary for a person quickly, and pause deletion for anything covered by an open request.
Make the opening line part of onboarding, and remind recruiters that the rules can depend on where each person on the call is located, not just where your office is.
How RecDial helps
RecDial records and transcribes recruitment calls, turns them into AI summaries, and syncs them to your ATS. Your organisation decides when recording, transcription, and AI analysis are on, and the Acceptable Use Policy sets out the recording guidelines. Read how RecDial handles personal information in the privacy policy.
See call recording and transcription, compare plans, browse more guides, or start a 14 day free trial.
Sources
This guide draws on the legislation and regulator guidance below, current at 28 October 2026.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. For advice on your agency's circumstances, speak with a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction.
Questions
Yes, when it is done properly. In NSW, WA, SA, Tasmania, and the ACT a party generally needs the consent of everyone on the call, while Victoria, Queensland, and the NT let a participant record. Telling everyone at the start of the call that it is being recorded is the safe practice nationally.
New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, and the ACT require the consent of every principal party, subject to limited exceptions. Victoria, Queensland, and the Northern Territory allow a party to the conversation to record it, with restrictions on sharing the recording.
UK businesses can record calls on their own systems for purposes such as record-keeping under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 and the 2018 business monitoring regulations, after making all reasonable efforts to tell people calls may be recorded. UK GDPR also requires a lawful basis, often legitimate interests, and clear privacy information, so tell candidates at the start of the call.
The Crimes Act 1961 allows a party to a call to record it. For a business, the Privacy Act 2020 expects you to tell people when you collect their personal information, and the Privacy Commissioner notes that recording someone without telling them might be unfair, so recruiters announce the recording.
Keep recordings only as long as you need them for the purpose you recorded them. Australian Privacy Principle 11, New Zealand privacy principle 9, UK GDPR, and the Singapore PDPA all expect personal information to be deleted or de-identified once it is no longer needed, so set a retention period and apply it consistently.
Yes. A call recording or transcript about a candidate is their personal information, so they can request access under the privacy laws of Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, and Singapore. In the UK and Ireland, organisations generally have one month to respond.
Yes. RecDial records and transcribes calls and creates AI summaries, and your organisation configures when recording, transcription, and AI analysis are on. Recordings are available in RecDial for 6 months on Essentials and 12 months on Professional.
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