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Case Notes

Case Notes

This case related to Medical data

Case No.:2004A13

Disclosure by a Tribunal of an applicant's medical certificate to the respondent in a court action

Disclosure by a Tribunal of an applicant's medical certificate to the respondent in a court action - Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance has no application to judicial acts

The Complaint

The complainant complained against a Tribunal for unauthorized disclosure to the respondent in a court action of his personal data contained in court documents. The personal data in question being his medical certificate submitted in support of his application for a review of the Tribunal’s decision. The complainant alleged that the Tribunal should not have done so without his consent and complained to the Privacy Commissioner for contravention of the Ordinance.

Findings of the Privacy Commissioner

The Privacy Commissioner conducted preliminary enquiry with the Tribunal. The Tribunal admitted disclosure of the complainant's medical certificate to the respondent for hearing the complainant's application for a review of the Tribunal's decision. The Tribunal considered that the medical certificate constituted court documents and that the act of disclosure was part of the judicial process. It was the view of the Tribunal that both court documents and judicial process were not within the jurisdiction of the Ordinance.

The Privacy Commissioner agreed that the disclosure by the Tribunal of the medical certificate in the course of handling the complainant's application was a judicial act which was not within the scope of the Ordinance. The Privacy Commissioner was of the further view that even if the Ordinance was applicable, the disclosure was consistent with the requirement of DPP3 for being directly related to the original purpose of collecting the complainant's personal data by the Tribunal, namely, to handle his judicial application. As such, pursuant to section 39(2)(d), the Privacy Commissioner refused to carry out an investigation of the complaint. Dissatisfied with the decision, the complainant appealed to the AAB.

The Appeal

The Board agreed with the Privacy Commissioner's findings. The purpose of disclosing the complainant's medical certificate was to ensure a fair trial and that the respondent was entitled in the circumstances to know the complainant's reasons to support his application for review. The disclosure by the Tribunal to the respondent in a judicial application was a judicial act which was not within the jurisdiction of the Ordinance. The Board also agreed that, should the Ordinance have application, the disclosure would have been consistent with DPP3 for being a purpose directly related to the original purpose of data collection, namely to handle the complainant's court application.

The AAB's Decision

The appeal was dismissed.


Category : Provisions/DPPs/COPs/Guidelines : Topic/Subject Matter :