Law & Order

Personal data bill to be tabled in LegCo

Personal data bill to be tabled in LegCo

July 07, 2011

The Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Bill 2011 will be introduced into the Legislative Council on July 13.
 
It seeks to implement the proposals in the report on further public discussions on the review of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance released in April.
 
Some enterprises have recently transferred customers’ personal data to others for direct-marketing purposes without explicitly and specifically informing the customers of the purpose of the transfer and the transferees’ identity, and without the customer's consent. This has aroused widespread community concerns.
 
The bill addresses these concerns, and includes provisions requiring a data user who intends to use personal data in direct marketing or to provide it to others to inform the subject in writing. They must say what data will be used, the classes of people to which it is to be provided, and the classes of goods or services to be offered or advertised.
 
The data user must also provide the data subject with a response facility through which the subject may indicate whether or not they object. It must be presented in an easy to read and easy to understand manner.
 
A data user who uses personal data in direct marketing or provides personal data to others for use in direct marketing without complying with the requirements or against the wish of the data subject will be liable, on conviction, to a $500,000 fine and three years in prison.
 
The ordinance has been in force since 1996 and was recently reviewed. The legislative proposals in the Bill were drawn up after considering the views received from a public consultation from August to November 2009, and further public discussions from October to December 2010.

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