Tax Administration Jamaica has sought to defend its refusal of a request made, under the Access to Information Act, by the Gleaner company.
A request was made of the TAJ for the names of the companies or persons that were the subject of a special report of the Auditor General concerning millions of dollars expended to lease properties which remained unoccupied.
TAJ responded that it could not honour the request as a result of prohibitions to general disclosure, in keeping with the provisions of the Data Protection Act [DPA].
The agency says its reliance on the DPA is grounded in TAJ's legal duty as a Data Controller to protect the personal data of its stakeholders, in accordance with its privacy policy.
It says, in carrying out this role, TAJ relied on its interpretation of Section 2 of the Data Protection Act, which seeks to protect the identity of an individual.
TAJ says it construed this to mean that any piece of information, either by itself or combined with other information, that can be used to identify a natural person is prohibited from disclosure.
It says it may only be disclosed in accordance with section 22 of the Data Protection Act which prescribes the related data protection standards.
Nevertheless, TAJ says it will engage the Office of the Information Commissioner to seek further guidance on this matter and will act accordingly.
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