PCPD - 2001-2002 Annual Report

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2001-2002 Annual Report_22

Report on Activities - Privacy- Related Issues

Code of Practice

Under section 12(1) of the PD(P)O, the Privacy Commissioner may, for the purpose of providing practical guidance in respect of any of the requirements of the PD(P)O, including those of the data protection principles, approve and issue codes of practice. The preparation of such a code may be done by a particular sector or profession or by the Privacy Commissioner. Before approving a code of practice the Privacy Commissioner is required to consult such representative bodies of data users to which the code will apply and such other interested persons as he thinks fit.

Amendments to the Code of Practice on Consumer Credit Data

Following the consultation exercise conducted in May 2001, the Privacy Commissioner approved revisions to the Code of Practice on Consumer Credit Data on 8 February 2002. The revisions took effect on 1 March 2002.

The revised Code provides better protection to an individual's credit data and allows relaxation on certain data retention and disclosure requirements. The rationale adopted is that any relaxation would not go beyond that which is strictly necessary to promote better credit assessment. The revisions also alleviate certain operational difficulties encountered by the consumer credit industry. The revisions are in the following areas.

a) Relaxation on data retention and use. Extension of the permissible retention period of credit application data by a credit reference agency from 90 days to 5 years, and extension of retention period of file activity data from 12 months to 5 years. Use of these historical data for consumer credit scoring is allowed but release of these data by a credit reference agency to credit providers is limited to data compiled over the most recent two years of the 5-year period.

b) Additional safeguards. Restrict access to an individual's credit data by a credit provider only in situations involving the grant, review or renewal of consumer credit. In relation to default data of a discharged bankrupt, a credit reference agency is required to delete such default data from its records within 5 years of the date of the discharge. Furthermore, public records about an individual's bankruptcy, e.g. any declaration or discharge of bankruptcy appearing on official records, should not be retained for more than 8 years from the relevant declaration.

Draft Code of Practice on Monitoring and Personal Data Privacy at Work

On 8 March 2002, the PCPD issued a consultation document relating to a draft Code of Practice on Monitoring and Personal Data Privacy at Work. Organizations from both the public and private sector were invited to submit their comments on the draft provisions of the Code, as were members of the public. The primary purpose of the Code is to provide practical guidance to employers who engage in practices that monitor and record the activities and behaviour of employees at work. The provisions of the Code seek to strike a balance between the business interest of employers and the privacy interest of employees.

The development of the Code was a considered response to several factors. First, it was a recommendation of the Privacy Sub-Committee of the Law Reform Commission ("the LRC") in its consultation paper entitled "Civil Liability for Invasion of Privacy" published in August 1999. The view adopted by the LRC to support the recommendation is that an employee's expectation of privacy in his activities in the workplace had to be balanced against the employer's need to keep the workplace, and his employees' activities, under surveillance for legitimate business purposes.

Secondly, technological developments and reduced costs, notably of surveillance software, have made monitoring systems affordable to virtually all employers. The natural consequence of this is that employee monitoring has become more pervasive in Hong Kong and, some would argue, more invasive of the privacy of the individual at work.

Thirdly, the findings of the PCPD's 2001 Opinion Survey indicated that 63.6% of the 485 respondent organizations had installed at least one type of employee monitoring device. One in three had installed two or more devices. The findings also indicated that only 22.1% of organizations surveyed had notified employees of their practices by drafting and disseminating a written employee monitoring policy. When respondent organizations were asked if they would support PCPD efforts to develop a code of practice on monitoring, 77.6% were in agreement with this suggestion. Less than 10% were opposed to it.

Having given careful consideration to these factors, the PCPD decided to promulgate the draft Code that, at least initially, would cover the most common forms of monitoring found in Hong Kong. These involve practices that relate to E-mail monitoring, computer usage monitoring (including Internet access), telephone monitoring and CCTV/video monitoring. The consultation is expected to run until 7 June 2002.

Draft Code of Practice on the Protection of Customer Information for Fixed and Mobile Service Operators

In January 2002, the PCPD participated in a joint project with the Consumer Council, the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Office of the Telecommunications Authority to develop a draft code of practice for fixed and mobile service operators. The draft code is intended to be a voluntary code that sets out good practices that relate to the protection of customer information. It is expected that the code will be issued in June 2002 after consultation with the fixed and mobile service industry.

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