167 / 192
judicial functions of the judicial officers was not subject to the jurisdiction of the
Ordinance.
12.6
In another decision of AAB No. 22/2007, the complainant made a data access request
to the Judiciary for obtaining, inter alia, the transcript of the hearing of her case at the
Labour Tribunal. The AAB ruled that the transcript was a Court document and could not
be accessed through a data access request under section 18 of the Ordinance. This was
part of the judicial proceedings at the Labour Tribunal and outside the scope of the
Ordinance.
12.7
The question of what amounts to the performance of a judicial function was considered
in AAB No. 57/2011. The complainant was a defendant/appellant in a criminal case and
its subsequent appeals. He made a data access request to the appellate judge for
documents which were excluded by the judge from the appeal bundle. The data
access request was made after the conclusion of the Court proceedings and there
were no pending judicial proceedings. The AAB considered that any party to the
appeal may apply to the appellate Court for incorporation of documents they think
relevant. Alternatively, with the leave of Court they may refer to documents not so
incorporated in the appeal bundle. Therefore, the exclusion or inclusion of a particular
document in the appeal bundle by the judge at the first instance does not affect the
right of any party to the appeal to argue properly their respective case before the
appellate Court. Hence, it is not appropriate to regard the assistance of the appellate
judge in the preparation of the appeal bundle as his judicial act or function. The AAB
further found that the appellate judge was not a data user in respect of the case file or
the appeal bundle. These documents formed part of the Court record and the keeper
or custodian of the Court record was the Registrar of the High Court. The ultimate
responsibility of how to comply with the data access request lies with the Registrar of the
High Court, not the appellate judge. As the complaint was lodged against the appellate
judge who was not a data user, the AAB upheld the decision of the Commissioner not to
investigate the complaint.
Section 52 —Domestic Purposes
12.8
Section 52 exempts from application all of the data protection principles and other
provisions of the Ordinance such as the access to or correction of personal data, etc. in
respect of personal data held for management of personal, family or household affairs
or recreational purposes. A common example would be the holding of an address and
telephone list of friends and relatives by an individual for communication purposes (such
as the sending of Christmas cards), or for social or recreational activities.
12.9
Section 52 provides as follows:
52. Domestic purposes
Personal data held by an individual and –
(a) concerned only with the management of his personal, family or household affairs;
or
(b) so held only for recreational purposes,
is exempt from the provisions of the data protection principles, Parts 4 and 5 and sections