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Complaint
Investigations
At the beginning of
the reporting year, 195 complaints were being processed. With the 972
new complaints received, the Privacy Commissioner handled a total of 1,167
complaints during the reporting period. Of these, 400 (34%) cases were
declined for further action after preliminary consideration because 363
of them were found to have no prima facie case to support allegations
of breaches of the Ordinance, and the remaining 37 cases were outside
the jurisdiction of the Commissioner. The remaining 767 (66%) cases were
either in the preliminary screening process or screened-in for further
consideration. Of these, 579 (75%) cases were resolved during the reporting
year while the balance of 188 (25%) were still being processed on 31 March
2006 (Figure 6).
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Figure
7 - Outcome of Investigations
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Of the
579 cases completed during the reporting period:
- 232
(40%) cases were resolved through mediation;
- 35
(6%) cases were resolved after formal investigations;
- 140
(24%) cases were found to be unsubstantiated after preliminary
enquiries;
- 109
(19%) cases were withdrawn by complainants during preliminary
enquiries; and
- the
remaining 63 (11%) cases involved mostly complaints where
the complainants did not respond to the Privacy Commissioner's
inquiries or where the matter had been transferred or reported
to other authorities, e.g. the Hong Kong Police.
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Figure
8 - Results of Formal Investigations
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Of the
35 formal investigations completed during the reporting period,
the Privacy Commissioner found contravention of the requirements
of the Ordinance in 22 (63%) cases. In the remaining 13 (37%)
cases, either no contravention was found or contravention
was not established due to insufficient evidence.
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Figure
9 - Nature of Contravention
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Of the
22 cases where the requirements of the Ordinance were found
to have been contravened, 19 cases involved contravention
of one or more of the data protection principles. The remaining
3 cases involved contravention of the requirements in the
main body of the Ordinance relating to compliance with data
access requests or direct marketing (Figure 9).
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Figure
10 - Actions Taken as a Result of Investigation
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In the
232 cases resolved through mediation, the Privacy Commissioner
provided advice and recommendations to 82 organizations on
their practices and procedures in order to assist them in
complying with the data protection principles and other requirements
of the Ordinance.
In the
22 cases in which requirements of the Ordinance were found
to have been contravened, the Privacy Commissioner issued
18 enforcement notices on the parties complained against to
prevent continuation or repetition of the contraventions.
In the remaining four cases, the parties complained against
had either taken measures to remedy the contraventions, or
given a written undertaking to implement them. As a result,
enforcement action through the issuance of an enforcement
notice was not deemed to be necessary, and warning notices
were issued.
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