Whether a data user who collects the the ID card number by means of collecting a copy of the ID card under the Code is entitled to retain the copy itself as the data user's permanent record of the ID Card number.
Q: Does the Code of Practice on the Hong Kong
ID Card Number and other personal identifiers ("the Code") permit
a data user who has a valid paragraph 2.3 reason for collecting
an ID card number, and who collects the number by means of collecting
a copy of the card pursuant to paragraph 3.2.2.3, to retain the
copy itself as the data user¡¦s permanent record of the ID Card
number?
A: The Code does not in itself purport
to prohibit a data user from retaining an ID copy at any time
after such collection.
The following requirements of the Personal Data
Privacy Ordinance ("the Ordinance") are relevant to the retention
of personal data in general:
Section 26(1):
"A data user shall erase personal data held by
the data user where the data are no longer required for the purpose
(including any directly related purpose) for which the data were
used unless-
(a) any such erasure is prohibited under any
law; or
(b) it is in the public interest (including
historic interest) for the data not to be erased."; and
Data Protection Principle ("DPP") 2(2) in
Schedule 1:
"Personal data shall not be kept longer than
is necessary for the fulfillment of the purpose (including any
directly related purpose) for which the data are or are to be
used."
Applying these requirements to an ID copy collected
pursuant to paragraph 3.2.2.3 of the new Code, it follows that
where the purpose for which the ID copy (and the personal data
contained therein) were used consisted either in:
(i) the verification of an ID number collected
separately by the data user; or
(ii) the collection of the ID number from
such copy, which number has subsequently been transferred and
recorded elsewhere by the data user.
then the purpose for which the ID copy was used
was fulfilled upon the completion of the verification or transfer
process, as the case may be. Unless there are other valid purposes
for the collection of the ID copy (as given in the other provision
of paragraph 3.2 of the new Code) which purposes have not been
fulfilled according to DPP 2(2), the personal data on the ID card
copy should be retained no further.
Apart from the above situations, however, it
is also possible to have a different situation where the ID card
copy is also collected pursuant to paragraph 3.2.2.3, but the
number is not subsequently transferred elsewhere, hence the ID
card copy remains the only record of the ID number held by the
data user. In this case, we are inclined to take the view that
the ID card copy as a whole has not outlived its original
use, hence it may be retained as the record of the ID number for
just so long as such number may be retained by the data user.
