Q: Mr. X requests access to personal data from his personal file. The file contains a copy of a memo containing only company information (e. g. sales plan or company procedures) except the name of Mr. X as one of the recipients of the memo. The question is whether company Y should disclose the memo to Mr. X.
A: A fundamental question to be asked in complying with a data access request is whether the information concerned constitute personal data of the requestor which have been collected by the party to whom such request is addressed. The Court of Appeal has held that the essence of an act of personal data collection is the compilation of information about an identified person or about a person whom the data user intends to or seeks to identify. If the information does not meet the aforesaid requirement, you are not obliged to provide a copy of the information to the requestor in response to his data access request.