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Following is the transcript of the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Stephen Lam's remarks to the media tonight (August 1) after officiating at "The 24th Tsuen Wan Arts Festival Closing Ceremony cum Youth Music Gala among Guangzhou, Macao, Taiwan and Hong Kong":
The HKSAR Government is fully committed to the protection of personal data privacy. We have also been following very closely the Octopus case and how privacy protection is being honoured in that particular case. The Privacy Commissioner has issued an interim report on the Octopus case, and we very much hope that the Octopus company would consider very carefully and very positively acting in accordance with the series of recommendations put forth by the Privacy Commissioner.
Also, on the part of the HKSAR Government, since last year we have been reviewing the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. We have also been concluding the proposals and the feedback which we received during the public consultation exercise. By the autumn we will put forth a report on the possible legislative changes which we may implement. There are three aspects which I wish to mention in particular. Firstly, we believe that some guidelines should be issued to ensure that any statements made on the part of corporations in gathering personal data should be of prominence, should be of a reasonable font size, so that the customers concerned will know what their rights are. Secondly, we would also consider how and whether we should increase the controls and penalties to ensure that corporations will act according to the authorisation given by the data subjects. Thirdly, we would also consider positively enabling the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data to provide legal aid in cases which merit support and in cases which should be put to court so that victims who have suffered from the invasion of personal data privacy can claim compensation through the legal process.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, August 1, 2010
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