2 of the platforms given formal warnings
The Office for Personal Data Protection (GPDP) said in a statement yesterday that the city’s three main food delivery platforms have been fined 20,000 patacas, 30,000 patacas and 60,000 patacas, respectively, due to the existence of procedural compliance problems, with two of them having received formal warnings from the office.
In response to complaints that the office had received, it carried out preliminary work on coordinating and supervising the processing of personal data of the three platforms, during which, according to the statement, its emerged that the three platforms disregarded “sufficient compliance” when processing their customers’ personal data, and neither did they carry out, in a satisfactory manner, personal data protection compliance work, nor did they comply within the official deadline with the mandatory notification procedures for automated processing.
The statement also pointed out that the platforms had not even completed the simple procedure of fulfilling the obligation to notify their customers in a timely manner of the automated processing of personal data under the Personal Data Protection Act.
The statement said that regarding the transfer of customers’ personal data outside Macau, two platforms failed to comply with their notification obligations in accordance with the law, with one failing to pay attention to its compliance work and even providing incorrect information concerning their mandatory notification procedure when the office requested rectification and proper notification. The statement added that the two have been fined and given formal warnings for putting the rights and legitimate interests of their clients’ data at unnecessary risk for a long period of time, while the office accepted the third platform’s explanation concerning the provision of incorrect information and considering that the latter constitutes merely an administrative infraction due to negligence, only fines were imposed on the platform.
Given the limitations of its powers and the fact that there is no evidence that any customers’ data has been illegally processed, the statement said, the office has not, for the time being, taken the initiative to investigate whether any specific data has been improperly processed by any of the three platforms, but it believed that the three platforms could protect customers’ personal data in accordance with the principle of commercial self-discipline.
The statement underlined that the office has required the three platforms to strengthen their awareness of compliance and protect their users’ personal data.
A food delivery rider waits for the green light in the northern district last night.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
