Kinds of Personal Data Held

Four broad categories of personal data are held in the EPD for different purposes:

1. Environmental Programme Related Personal Data – Personal data collected during implementation or promotion of our environmental policies and programmes such as surveys, studies, promotion activities, consultations, community education programmes, provision of facility services, etc.
2. Enforcement Related Personal Data – Personal data collected in connection with our licensing/permit controls, inspections, environmental complaint investigations, prosecutions, etc.
3. Employment Related Personal Data – Personal information collected in connection with recruitment and employment of EPD staff.
4. Other Records – Personal data collected during various administrative and general business operations, general enquiries, complaints, access for information, etc.

Main Purpose of keeping Personal Data

1. Environmental Programme Related Personal Data are kept to facilitate the implementation and promotion of our environmental policies and programmes and to enable communication with our stakeholders.
2. Enforcement Related Personal Data are kept for environmental pollution controls, enforcement of the various environmental ordinances and legislations under EPD’s regime.
3. Employment Related Personal Dataare kept for human resource management purposes, such as appointment, appraisal, posting, training, etc.
4. Other Records are kept for various purposes which vary according to the nature of the record, such as administration of various office functions and activities, handling of public enquiries, etc.

Privacy Practices

Principles

The EPD is following the Data Protection Principles under the PDPO in discharging our functions and duties:

• collecting adequate but not excessive personal data for a purpose related to the functions and activities of the EPD by lawful and fair means, and informing the purpose of collection beforehand;
• taking all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that personal data are accurate, up-to-date and kept no longer than necessary;
• using the personal data collected only for purposes or directly related purposes at the time of collection, unless the individual concerned has given consent to a change of use or such use is permitted by law;
• taking all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that personal data are protected against unauthorized or accidental access, processing, erasure or other use;
• taking all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that a person can be informed of the kinds of personal data that the EPD holds and the purposes for which the data are to be used; and
• processing access / correction of personal data by data subjects according to the requirements of the PDPO.

Collection of Personal Data Online

• The EPD will record visits to EPD website without collecting any personal identifiable information.
• For different purposes and at different times, users may be invited to provide personal data to the EPD through EPD website on a voluntary basis. The data will be collected and handled in accordance with our general personal data practice in following the Data Protection Principles above. The data will be secured by the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology with our website during network transmissions with access restricted to authorized personnel only.
• When browsing EPD website, users may have cookies temporarily stored in their computer. The purpose of cookies is to facilitate navigation only. We will not collect any personal data under this circumstance. Users have a choice not to accept the cookies by configurating their internet browser settings, but in this case, full functionality of the website may not be properly provided.
• Search service on EPD website is provided by an independent contractor of the Government. The independent contractor does not collect personal identifiable information while serving search results through our website. The independent contractor will share the anonymous data it collects through the search service for compiling traffic analysis on our website. EPD will not match the data obtained from any such search activity with any personal data possibly held by us.

Data Access or Correction Request

Data access or correction request to the EPD may be made by completing the Data Access Request Form and addressing to the following:

Senior Environmental Protection Officer (Knowledge Management)
Environmental Protection Department,
Room1201, Guardian House,
32 Oi Kwan Road,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong.