Hong Kong’s Data Centres and the PDPO
The rapid growth of Hong Kong’s pillar industries and other emerging service sectors generates great demand for data centres to store, process and transmit massive amounts of data. The thriving business community in the region also increases the demand for secure and reliable data centre services. This, in turn, creates a strong demand for local and international professional staff to manage the data centres. Hong Kong’s unique advantages, such as free trade and a highly developed legal system, together with the city’s strategic location, make it a prime choice for businesses to set up their regional data centres.
Data is the backbone of modern economies. It drives innovation, enhances productivity and propels economic development. In order to keep pace with the world, the Government of Hong Kong has established a new office to draft digital policies and harness technology and data for the future. This will help boost the digital economy and advance smart-city initiatives.
The new office will set up in the middle of this year and be headed by a seasoned senior official from the IT industry to provide a comprehensive policy response to the challenges faced by the data economy. The policy measures will aim to promote a culture of privacy by design, facilitate data sharing and the exchange of best practices, while ensuring that laws and regulations are clear and flexible enough to respond to technological developments.
Moreover, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) will continue to play a vital role in driving and enforcing compliance with the Personal Data Protection Ordinance (PDPO). The PCPD encourages its stakeholders to embrace a holistic approach to data protection that encompasses both the ethical and technical aspects of protecting personal data. This is exemplified in the PCPD’s emphasis on the importance of the privacy impact assessment and the promotion of transparency and accountability in the processing of personal data.
Under the PDPO, “personal data” means any information that can be used to identify an individual. For example, a person’s name and HKID number are considered personal data if they are combined to identify that individual, even if the information is not publicly displayed or made available to the public. Other examples include CCTV recordings of crowds, records of persons entering car parks and documents containing details of meetings.
Unlike some other jurisdictions, the PDPO does not have any extraterritorial application, meaning that it applies only to data users who carry out operations controlled in Hong Kong. However, the PCPD has also been active in promoting international cooperation on data transfer matters. For example, it has participated in the Asia-Pacific Privacy Authorities’ Forum on Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Data and is a founding member of the Global Privacy Alliance.