XN000022-1990-06-09 — Page 3

SATURDAY, JUNE 9.

JUNE 9, 1990

DATA PROTECTION LEGISLATION DESIRABLE: SHA

IT WOULD BE DESIRABLE FOR LEGISLATION ON COMPUTER DATA PROTECTION TO BE INTRODUCED IN HONG KONG, THE SECRETARY FOR HOME AFFAIRS, MR PETER TSAO, SAID TODAY (SATURDAY).

SPEAKING AT A JOINT LUNCH MEETING OF LIONS CLUBS OF DISTRICT 303, MR TSAO SAID THE GOVERNMENT HAD COME TO THIS CONCLUSION AFTER STUDYING SIMILAR LEGISLATION AND EXPERIENCE OF SOME SELECTED COUNTRIES.

MR TSAO POINTED OUT THAT THE INCREASING USE OF COMPUTERS TO STORE, RETRIEVE AND PROCESS INFORMATION HAD, FROM TIME TO TIME, GIVEN RISE TO CALLS FOR SOME PROTECTION ON THE DATA KEPT IN COMPUTER SYSTEMS, PARTICULARLY THOSE RELATING TO INFORMATION ON INDIVIDUALS.

HE DEFINED DATA PROTECTION AS "THE PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS, FREEDOM AND ESSENTIAL INTERESTS OF PERSONS VIS-A-VIS THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO THEM, PARTICULARLY WHEN AID IN THE PROCEDURE".

COMPUTERS

SOME COUNTRIES, HE ADDED, HAD INTRODUCED REGULATORY MEASURES TO SAFEGUARD THE RIGHTS AND PRIVACY OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

IN SOME CASES, THE MEASURES INCLUDED RESTRICTIONS ON "TRANSBORDER DATA FLOWS" WITH LEGISLATION WHICH MIGHT PROHIBIT ORGANISATIONS FROM TRANSFERRING COMPUTER-BASED PERSONAL DATA TO OTHER COUNTRIES WHICH HAD NOT ENACTED DATA PROTECTION LEGISLATION.

AGAINST THIS BACKGROUND, THE GOVERNMENT HAD CONCLUDED THAT DATA PROTECTION LEGISLATION WOULD BE DESIRABLE FOR TWO MAJOR REASONS, NAMELY TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS, FREEDOM AND ESSENTIAL INTERESTS OF INDIVIDUALS AS DATA SUBJECTS; AND TO REMOVE ANY RISK OF HONG KONG BEING DENIED "TRANSBORDER DATA FLOWS" SO AS NOT ΤΟ JEOPARDISE HONG KONG'S POSITION AS AN INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL CENTRE, HE NOTED.

MR TSAO SAID THE GOVERNMENT SET UP A WORKING GROUP IN JULY 1988 TO EXAMINE THE DATA PROTECTION LAWS AND EXPERIENCE OF SOME SELECTED COUNTRIES, AND ON THE BASIS OF THE STUDY, FURTHER TO EXAMINE THE DIRECTION TO BE TAKEN IN DRAFTING HONG KONG'S LEGISLATION.

"SO FAR THE WORKING GROUP HAS COMPLETED ITS STUDIES OF NATIONAL LEGISLATION OF OTHER COUNTRIES AND IS IN THE PROCESS OF DELIBERATING THE BASIC FEATURES WHICH HONG KONG'S LEGISLATION WOULD ENSHRINE," HE SAID.

NOTING THAT DATA PROTECT (ON LEGISLATION NORMALLY INVOLVED A LENGTHY AND COMPLEX PROCESS OF DELIBERATION, MR TSAO SAID DIFFERENT COUNTRIES HAD ADOPTED DIFFERENT APPROACHES.

/"AS FAR