ENG-2005 — Page 65

The Legal System 39

raising initiatives, such as the Child Ambassadors Scheme, initiated in 2000 to mark the 10th anniversary of the CRC, and the Children's Council, which has met annually since 2003. In 2005, the Government established the Children's Rights Forum to provide a formal channel of communication between children's representatives and the Government. These measures are complementary and on-going.

Equal Opportunities Commission

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) was established as an independent statutory body under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance in May 1996 and started full operation in September that year. The commission is tasked to oversee the implementation of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, the Disability Discrimination Ordinance and the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance. The functions of the commission include handling complaints, encouraging conciliation, providing assistance to aggrieved persons, and undertaking public education, research and training programmes to promote equal opportunities in the community. In 2005, the commission handled 31 396 enquiries and 932 complaints relating to the three anti-discrimination ordinances; 181 complaint cases were conciliated.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data

The Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance provides for the appointment of a Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data to monitor, supervise and promote compliance with the ordinance. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCO) began full operation in December 1996.

In 2005, the PCO handled 13 915 enquiries and 1140 complaints, and conducted 139 compliance checks in relation to the ordinance. The office issued 10 enforcement notices and referred four cases to the police for prosecution.

According to the Code of Practice on Human Resource Management, an employer who directly, or through its agent, advertises a vacancy that solicits the submission of personal data by job applicants should provide a means for the applicant to identify either the employer or its agent. To ensure compliance by the relevant parties, the PCO checked 19 712 recruitment advertisements and found that about 16 per cent were blind advertisements which provided no means of identifying either the employer or the recruitment agency acting on behalf of the employer. The parties in breach of the code were served with warnings, which resulted in improved compliance with the code.

During the year, the PCO organised a wide range of activities to promote the awareness of individual rights in respect of personal data privacy in the community. These included a photo competition, a poster design competition, a series of seminars and workshops and a new online feature to educate the public on the key. provisions of the ordinance.