Q: An applicant for certain services of our department requests to inspect certain documents from his file held by our department before deciding which documents or parts thereof he would like us to provide copies for him. Is a data subject entitled to do so under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance ("the Ordinance")?
A: Pursuant to section 18(1) of the Ordinance, a data subject has the right to make a data access request to a data user requiring it to inform him whether it holds personal data about him and, if it does, to supply with him a copy of such data. The data user is then obliged under section 19(1) of the Ordinance to comply with such request not later than 40 days from the date of receiving the request. There is no provision under the Ordinance whereby a data subject may inspect the data before deciding which documents or parts thereof he would like to obtain a copy.