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legislation would be reduced. In order to avoid the embarrassing situation that has arisen in Britain where. data users are being subjected to great inconvenience as a result of the adoption of the positive registration approach, voluntary compliance data protection legislation could be drafted in a far less cumbersome manner than the UK Data Protection Act 1984. As previously noted (in paragraph 10), the voluntary compliance legislation would establish a set of data protection principles, create an independent body to lay down standards, receive and investigate complaints, and examine computer systems if invited to do so by the data user or under powers provided by the legislation. Findings and recommendations would be published and although the body would not have power to impose formal sanctions, rectification or reform might be achieved by the threat of adverse publicity. Newspaper and broadcast reports of such a statutory body could, like Consumer Council reports, be given qualified privilege for defamation purposes by another amendment to Part II of the Schedule to the Defamation Ordinance (Cap. 21).
18.
The main arguments in favour of immediate legislative backing for the voluntary compliance approach
are:-
(a) The threat of denial of trans-border data flow would be reduced (How much it would be reduced would, however, depend on how effective the legislation was seen to be in practice by other countries with data protection legislation. The confidentiality of personal information might be seen as more at risk in some countries with data protection legislation than in others without it. Trans-border data flow is discussed in greater detail in paragraph 20).
(b) A statutory body would exist which would have
power to investigate complaints, examine computer systems and publish reports.
(c)
(a)
19. backing
(a)
Newspaper and broadcast reports of such a body could be given qualified privilege under the Defamation Ordinance (Cap. 21).
Government would be seen as taking a positive stance.
The main arguments against immediate legislative for the voluntary compliance approach are:-
Whatever form the legislation might take, it will seriously affect the private sector and would cut across Government's usual underlying policy of 'positive non-interventionism'.
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