XN000022-1997-03-12 — Page 9

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Workload of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data

The following is a question by the Hon David Li and a written reply by the acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Mrs Stella Hung, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Questions:

The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data recently stated that the number of complaints received by his Office since the implementation of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance in December last year was running at about one per day, and he expressed concern that the 32 staff members in the Office might not be able to cope with the workload. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will consider allocating additional resources to the Office to cope with the workload?

Reply:

Mr President,

It is true that the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has been receiving, on average, one formal complaint per working day since the core provisions in the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance came into effect on December 20, 1996. He has also been receiving about 40 enquiries a day. As at the end of February 1997, he has received a total of 39 formal complaints and about 1,700 enquiries.

The handling of complaints and enquiries is only one of the many functions of the Commissioner. His other functions include, for example, promoting awareness and understanding of the Ordinance and also, promoting and assisting bodies representing data users to prepare codes of practice on compliance with the Ordinance.

In considering whether or not additional resources should be allocated to the Commissioner, we have to consider first, the workload of his office as a whole and secondly, the relative priority of competing demands for additional resources.

I fully appreciate the excellent work put in by the Commissioner and his staff and I know that they have been working very hard. Naturally the workload of an office is particularly heavy in the initial stage of its establishment. Since the office has been in full operation for less than three months, it is too early to tell whether any additional resources are required in the longer term.

I can assure Members that despite the very heavy workload of the office, it has been able to cope with the processing of complaints and other important tasks.

End