In some of our previous successful cases, the administrative authorities refused to disclose relevant information on the grounds that "confidentiality and personal privacy are involved, and disclosure will affect the legitimate rights and interests of third parties". Whenever this happens, there are always some friends who leave a message or comment saying: ".Why are third-party rights involved?What are the regulations for confidentiality and personal privacy?
Therefore, today we are going to do a relevant popular science to explain these issues in a more understandable way, hoping to help you better understand.
part.01
Legal provisions on the legitimate interests of third parties
1.Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Information Disclosure (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations on Information Disclosure").
*Article 15 of the "Regulations on Information Disclosure" stipulates that administrative organs shall not disclose information that involves trade secrets, personal privacy and other information that will cause damage to the legitimate rights and interests of third parties. However, where the third party agrees to disclose or the administrative organ finds that non-disclosure would have a major impact on the public interest, it is to be disclosed.
Article 32 stipulates that where the disclosure of ** information disclosed upon request will harm the lawful rights and interests of a third party, the administrative organ shall solicit the opinions of the third party in writing. The third party shall submit comments within 15 working days of receiving the solicitation of comments. Where third parties do not submit comments within the time limit, the administrative organs are to decide whether to disclose them in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations. Where the third party does not consent to disclosure and there are reasonable grounds, the administrative organs are not to disclose it. Where administrative organs find that non-disclosure might have a major impact on the public interest, they may decide to disclose it, and inform the third party in writing of the content and reasons for the decision to disclose.
2.Article 9 of the "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Administrative Cases of ** Information Disclosure" (hereinafter referred to as the "** Provisions on Information Disclosure") stipulates that if the defendant refuses or partially refuses to disclose ** information that should be disclosed in accordance with the law, the people's court shall revoke or partially revoke the decision not to disclose the subject of the lawsuit, and make a judgment that the defendant disclose it within a certain period of time. Where it is still necessary for the defendant to investigate and make a decision, a judgment is made that they respond again within a set period of time.
part.02
How is the legitimate interest of a third party defined?
*Article 15 of the Regulations on Information Disclosure actually includes three types of information:Trade secrets, personal privacy, and information that does not belong to trade secrets and personal privacy but the disclosure will cause damage to the legitimate rights and interests of third parties.
(a).Trade Secrets
*The Regulations on the Disclosure of Information do not actually define trade secrets, and the following content is mainly defined in conjunction with other legal provisions.
Paragraph 4 of Article 9 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates that trade secrets refer to commercial information such as technical information and business information that is not known to the public, has commercial value, and has been subject to corresponding confidentiality measures by the right holder. Article 2 of the Several Provisions on the Prohibition of Infringement of Trade Secrets stipulates that the term "trade secrets" in these Provisions refers to technical information and business information that is not known to the public, can bring economic benefits to the right holder, is practical, and has been kept confidential by the right holder.
To sum up, trade secrets usually have the following characteristics:
It is not known to the general public and is not directly available through public channels;
It has commercial value and can bring economic benefits to the right holder;
It needs to be confidential, which means that the right holder has taken some measures to ensure its confidentiality, such as signing a confidentiality agreement, establishing a confidentiality system, and taking other reasonable confidentiality measures.
(2) Personal privacy
Article 1032 of the Civil Code stipulates that natural persons enjoy the right to privacy. The privacy rights of others must not be infringed upon by any organization or individual through methods such as espionage, intrusion, leakage, or disclosure. Privacy refers to the tranquility of a natural person's private life and the private space, private activities, and private information that they do not want others to know.
Article 1034 stipulates that the personal information of natural persons shall be protected by law. Personal information refers to all kinds of information recorded electronically or otherwise that can identify a specific natural person, either alone or in combination with other information, including the natural person's name, date of birth, ID number, biometric information, address, ** number, email address, health information, whereabouts information, etc. For private information in personal information, the provisions on privacy shall apply;Where there are no provisions, the provisions on the protection of personal information shall apply.
Based on the above provisions, we can see that personal privacy includes private spaces, private activities, and private information. Personal information, on the other hand, includes both private and non-private information. That is, personal privacy and personal information are two different concepts, and they are partly the same, but not identical. Personal privacy is not limited to private information, but also includes our private activities and private spaces. And there are also some personal information that is not private, such as someone's public social position, although it is personal information, but does not involve personal privacy.
In information disclosure, personal privacy usually includes the following types:
Personally identifiable information, such as name, date of birth, ID number, address, ** number, email address, health status, whereabouts, etc.
Sensitive personal information, once leaked or illegally used, may pose a threat to an individual's personal dignity and personal and property safety, including biometric information, religious beliefs, specific identities, medical health, financial accounts, whereabouts, etc.
Personal property status information, including bank account number, deposit information, real estate information, income, etc.
3. Other legitimate rights and interests
*Although Article 15 of the "Information Disclosure Regulations" only clearly lists trade secrets and personal privacy, the use of the word "etc" in the regulations means that in addition to trade secrets and personal privacy, there are other ** information that may harm the legitimate rights and interests of third parties cannot be disclosed at will.
This provision mainly applies to information that is neither a trade secret nor a personal privacy, but once disclosed, it will affect the legitimate rights and interests of third parties. Specific applications need to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.