Statement of Personal Data Privacy Policy and Practices

I. Statement of Policy

The Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) respects personal data privacy and is committed to implementing and complying with the data protection principles and relevant provisions under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO).

LWB undertakes to –

(a) collect adequate, but not excessive, personal data by lawful and fair means only for lawful purposes related to LWB’s functions or activities and for which, data subjects shall be informed;

(b) take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that the personal data collected or retained are accurate, and that the personal data are not kept longer than is necessary for the purposes for which they are to be used;

(c) use the personal data collected only for purposes or directly related purposes for which the data were to be used at the time of collection, unless the data subject concerned has given express consent for a change of use or such use is permitted by law;

(d) take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that personal data are protected against unauthorised or accidental access, processing, erasure, loss or other use;

(e) take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that the public is informed of LWB’s policy and practices in relation to personal data; and

(f) permit data subjects to access and correct their personal data and process any such access / correction requests in a manner permitted or required by law.

II. Statement of Practices

The Kinds of Personal Data Held

LWB holds the following five broad categories of personal data –

(a) Employment-related records, which include personal data of job applicants, serving officers and former employees;

(b) Boards and committees related work records, which include personal data of candidates nominated for appointment / re-appointment to various boards and committees, and contacts of individuals related to the operation of various boards and committees;

(c) Application and registration records, which include records containing information supplied by individuals in connection with applications for grants, schemes or registrations;

(d) Programmes and activities records, which include records of events / competitions / promotion activities where there are personal particulars of staff / members / volunteers; and

(e) Other records, which include administrative and programme records from which the personal identity of individuals can be ascertained, e.g. personal data collected via consultations and surveys, contacts for daily operations, etc.

Main Purposes of Keeping Personal Data

The main purposes of keeping the personal data are as follows –

(a) Employment-related records are kept for recruitment and human resources management purposes, relating to such matters as employees’ appointment, employment benefits, training, performance appraisal, discipline, termination of service, etc.;

(b) Boards and committees related work records are kept for the purposes of appointing individuals to boards and committees, and carrying out the work of the boards and committees concerned;

(c) Application and registration records are kept for processing various applications under the grants, schemes or registrations administered by LWB;

(d) Programmes and activities records are kept for the purposes of carrying out the operations of the programmes / activities; and

(e) Other records are kept for various purposes which vary according to the nature of the records, such as processing of survey data, handling daily enquiries, etc.

Personal Data Access and Correction

Data access or correction requests could be made by sending the completed Data Access Request Form (OPS003) (downloaded from https://www.pcpd.org.hk/english/publications/files/Dforme.pdf ) to our Data Protection Officer by fax at 2523 1973, by email to enquiry@lwb.gov.hk, or by post to the following address –

Labour and Welfare Bureau
10/F, West Wing
Central Government Offices
2 Tim Mei Avenue
Tamar, Hong Kong

When handling a data access or correction request, LWB will check the identity of the requester to ensure that he/she is the person legally entitled to make the data access or correction request. A fee is chargeable by LWB for complying with a data access or correction request. A Data Protection Log Book is maintained as required under section 27 of PDPO.

Charges

A fee will be charged to cover the cost of photocopying personal data supplied in response to a data access or correction request at the prevailing rate of photocopying charge as advised by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury.

Enquiries

Any enquiries regarding our personal data privacy policy and practices may be addressed to our Data Protection Officer via the fax number, email address or correspondence address as set out above.