Important Changes to Hong Kong Data Protection Law Under Way

guest · Sep 30, 2020

Part 1 of 6 - Important Changes to HK Data Protection Law Under Way
September 24, 2020
https://www.bclplaw.com/en-GB/insights/important-changes-to-hk-data-protection-law-under-way.html

Summary
The Hong Kong Government currently is reviewing and putting forward possible amendments to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (“PDPO”) with a view to strengthening the protection for personal data. Multiple areas of the data protection law are expected to be changed, the better to align with the standards set by the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) of the European Union. Businesses should begin reviewing their internal policies to prepare for the upcoming wave of amendments.
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The Government’s review of the PDPO
At present, the PDPO does not require data users to notify data breaches, either to the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (“PCPD”) or to the data subjects concerned.

Following recent incidents of personal data privacy breaches (for example, the data breach incident involving Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (as it then was) in 2018 ), public concerns about the adequacy of the PDPO began to find voice.
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guest · Sep 30, 2020

Part 2 of 6 - Amendments to Hong Kong Data Protection Law Regarding Data Retention Policy: requirement for a clearly stated retention period
September 28, 2020
https://www.bclplaw.com/en-GB/insig...nt-for-a-clearly-stated-retention-period.html

Summary
The Hong Kong Government currently is reviewing and putting forward possible amendments to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (“PDPO”) with a view to strengthening the protection for personal data. One of the amendments proposed is to require data users to formulate a clear data retention policy which specifies a retention period for the personal data collected. This article sets out the background to this proposed amendment and what businesses need to know.
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This post is the second one in the series of six articles in which we discuss the proposed amendments to the data protection regime in Hong Kong.

This post deals with that part of the proposed amendments that will require the implementation of a clearly stated retention period for personal data.
See link here to the first article for an overview of the six proposed amendments and a discussion of the proposed introduction of a mandatory data breach notification mechanism.
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Data retention period – HK’s current position and why a change is needed
The current regime, therefore, provides little specification or guidance as to when such personal data is no longer necessary for the fulfilment of its purpose. No maximum or uniform retention period currently is prescribed by the Hong Kong law.

The reality is that, without further guidance provided in statute, the likely situation is that not all data users in Hong Kong have their own data retention policy which spells out how long personal data is to be kept.
The proposed amendments
The proposed requirement for data users to formulate a clear retention policy mainly targets the specification of a data retention period. The retention policy formulated by data users should include the following aspects: [...]
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Important Changes to Hong Kong Data Protection Law Under Way

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