Protection for Privacy with respect to Personal Data

The Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance aims to protect the individual's
right to privacy with respect to personal data. It incorporates
internationally accepted data protection principles governing the collection,
holding, processing and use of personal data, including the right of
individuals to access and correct their own personal data.

The Ordinance also provides for the Chief Executive to appoint an
independent statutory authority, the Privacy Commissioner for Personal
Data, to monitor, supervise and promote compliance with its
requirements. The first Privacy Commissioner, Mr Stephen Lau Ka-men,
MBE, was appointed in 1996 to head an office with an initial establishment
of 32 posts.

In 1997, the Privacy Commissioner's Office handled some 9 356 enquiries
and 227 complaints relating to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. It
also undertook a variety of activities to promote compliance, awareness
and understanding of the Ordinance, including the approval of a code of
practice on the identity card number and other personal identifiers, the
production of fact sheets and other guidance material on various aspects
of the Ordinance's application.

Topics covered in guidance materials produced by the Privacy
Commissioner's Office include the transfer of personal data outside Hong
Kong, human resources management and direct marketing by telephone.

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