Who may send improvement opinions on under the Personal Information Protection Act, to which bodies, and when must they arise from official duties?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the dispute mediation committee's minutes or mediation decision, to see which of its own duties were being performed at the time. We also read the improvement opinion paper itself and the transmission record naming the Personal Information Protection Commission or the heads of the relevant central administrative agencies.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the actor, the addressees and the power exactly as written: the Dispute Mediation Committee may notify improvement opinions, and only it may, and only to the Personal Information Protection Commission and the heads of the relevant central administrative agencies. The opinion must serve the protection of personal information and of information subjects' rights, and must arise from performing the committee's official duties. The wording 'may notify' leaves the decision to notify with the committee.
Another reading stresses the boundary the provision draws: an improvement suggestion that did not arise out of the committee's own official duties falls outside this power, whatever its subject matter. The provision also says nothing about what the Commission or an agency head must do once an opinion arrives, so the effect of the notification is left open.
Your judgment
How should the file show that an improvement opinion belonged to the committee's official duties rather than to some other body's work?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to make notification compulsory, to name further recipients, or to reach opinions formed outside official duties, or if a decision clarifies what counts as the committee's official duties.