Date: 2 December 2016
Privacy Commissioner Responses to Adoption in Hong Kong
Thank you very much for your enquiry. Our response is as follows:
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As the regulator for personal data privacy in Hong Kong, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data will provide only general comments from the perspective of personal data privacy protection. It is not appropriate for this Office to render comments on an individual case.
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The objective of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (the “Ordinance”) is to protect the privacy rights in relation to personal data of a living individual (data subject), including an adoptee and his biological parents, in Hong Kong.
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Any individual or organisation (data user), including adoption centre and government department, who controls the collection, holding, processing or use of the personal data is required to comply with the requirements under the Ordinance.
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Any individual (including an adoptee) has the right to request a data user (e.g. an adoption centre or government department) to confirm whether it holds his personal data, and to supply a copy of the data to him through a data access request. However, an individual is entitled to only his personal data and not the entire document in which his personal data is contained. If the personal data sought under the data access request comprises personal data of a third party, a data user may comply with the request by editing out the personal data of the third party, unless the third party has consented to the disclosure.
To understand more about the Ordinance, the definition of “personal data” under the Ordinance and the six Data Protection Principles, please visit the PCPD website. The Privacy Commissioner has issued the “Exercising Your Data Access Rights under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance” that assists individuals in making data access request. The Guidance Note on “Proper Handling of Data Access Request and Charing of Data Access Request Fee by Data Users” is also issued to provide general guidance to data users on the proper handling of data access requests (DARs) and the charge of DAR fees.
The information can be attributed to the Acting Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Ms Fanny Kam-hing WONG.