NSW state insurer icare says historic non-compliance with contract transparency requirements was caused by "underdeveloped systems and internal confusion".

The organisation has welcomed a report from the NSW Information and Privacy Commission, which identified non-compliance with the contract register requirements of the Government Information Public Access (GIPA) Act.

The report says the issue was known about by management as far back as 2016 but effective action was not taken until last year.

The GIPA Act requires agencies such as icare to enter information on relevant contracts to a register within 45 days of the contract becoming effective. This information is then published.

The commission says a second phase of the report will look in greater detail at the “scope of non-compliance” and an assessment will then consider “whether an escalation of regulatory action by the IPC may be appropriate”.

It has made eight recommendations, including that ownership of the remediation program is assumed by the CEO and that independent oversight is provided by icare’s Audit and Risk Committee.

The commission says icare has demonstrated since March this year “a willingness to engage and take steps to address issues of non-compliance”.

icare says it has now disclosed all active contracts and will continue to do so within the 45-day requirement.

“icare…is in the process of adopting and implementing the recommendations in full,” a spokeswoman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.