XN000022-1997-03-05 — Page 33

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Publicity of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance

Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Questions:

Although the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (the Ordinance) was implemented at the end of last year, the public are still not fully aware of their rights to privacy - for example, the public are not clear as to whether it is an offence under the Ordinance for a member of any private or government organisation (including a police officer) to inspect a person's Identity Card or ask for a copy of it - thus resulting in the Ordinance not being applied generally in the territory. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Reply:

(a)

(b)

(c)

Mr President,

of the ways adopted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (the Office) in promoting and publicising the Ordinance to enhance the public's awareness of their rights to privacy;

of the steps taken by the Office to promote the Ordinance to various business organisations, so that they can avoid violating the law when requesting personal data from individuals; and

of the number and major types of complaints received by the Office since its establishment; the number of enquiries concerning infringement of rights to privacy, and whether there have been any such enquiries to which the Office could not provide definite replies; if so, of the number of such enquiries, and whether alternative enquiry channels are available to the public.

I should say at the outset that the core provisions of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance already commenced operation on 20 December 1996. Whether or not the public understand their privacy right does not affect the application of the Ordinance. Therefore, I cannot agree with Hon Leung Yiu-chung's view that the Ordinance is not being applied generally in the territory.