An appeal or dispute occurs when an applicant believes the result of their nationally coordinated criminal history check is incorrect. Incorrect check results may occur for a range of reasons.

ACIC accredited bodies must give applicants access to their police check results upon request. They must also publish information about appeals and dispute processes. 

To dispute your check result, you must contact the accredited body or police agency you submitted your police check through. You should provide as much information as possible, including any documents that support your claim.

As the ACIC does not release check results, we are not in a position to resolve the dispute on your behalf. Our role is to manage and provide access to the National Police Checking Service Support System (NSS), the national IT system that allows Australia’s police agencies to process police checks and share information.

1. You must contact the accredited body or police agency that submitted your check. You will be asked to outline the reasons for the dispute and provide documentation to support your claims.
2. The accredited body or police agency will lodge your dispute into a national database for further investigation.
3. The police agency/ies responsible for the release of information on your check result will investigate the dispute and determine an appropriate outcome. The police agency/ies may request further information to support their investigation.
4. Once the dispute has been concluded, the accredited body or police agency/ies will be advised of one of the following outcomes:
   • Successful dispute outcome
     
     The dispute has been successful and the check result will be amended.
   • Unsuccessful dispute outcome
     
     The dispute has been unsuccessful and the result will remain the same. You may challenge this outcome and additional documentation may be collected to support the challenge.
5. The accredited body or police agency that you submitted the dispute through is responsible for advising you of the dispute outcome.

Note: Due to privacy concerns, the ACIC may not be able to provide the accredited body with specific detail about why the dispute was unsuccessful.