The Complaint
Summary of Facts
The Complainant lodged a complaint with this Office against a government department (“the Department”) for the unnecessary collection of his tenant identification document, driving licence and third party insurance policy when processing his application for a space in his public housing estate’s monthly car park.
Information provided by the Department
The Department explained to the Commissioner that due to the limited number of parking spaces and high demand, it was the Department’s policy to give priority to tenants of the estate. Car park applicants were required to provide tenant identification documents for identity verification. To prove that applicants actually needed the parking space for their own use and to prevent misuse, the Department also needed to collect a copy of their driving licence.
As regards motor vehicle third party insurance, the Department explained that it needed this information to ascertain whether applicants met the requirements under the Motor Vehicle Insurance (Third Party Risks) Ordinance, i.e. applicants must have valid insurance for third party risks to protect the third party’s right in case of accidents.
Outcome
With regard to the collection of copies of applicants’ tenant identification documents and driving licence, the Commissioner was of the view that it was obvious that the Department collected this information to confirm applicants’ eligibility and priority. The Commissioner considered this to be directly related to the handling of applications for monthly car park spaces and found the data collected to be adequate and not excessive.
As for the motor vehicle third party insurance policy, however, the Motor Vehicle Insurance (Third Party Risks) Ordinance did not require the management company of a car park to ensure that car park users had valid insurance for third party risks, and hence the collection of this data was not directly related to the Department’s consideration of the eligibility and priority of applicants. So the Commissioner held the view that the Department had contravened DPP1(1) in this respect.
As a result of this complaint case, the Department agreed to stop collecting applicants’ motor vehicle third party insurance policy when handling applications for monthly car park spaces in future and to destroy all the relevant records previously collected.
(Uploaded in October 2015)