HK is one of the world’s most carrier-dense network hubs, with a dense concentration of enterprises, networks, IT and cloud service providers. Equinix data centers in Hong Kong provide direct connections into this rich industry ecosystem, as well as into a wide range of global interconnection points. This allows customers to reduce their data transmission costs, scale their business and meet performance and regulatory requirements.

The definition of personal data in the PDPO is not consistent with the wording in the other laws that govern privacy in Hong Kong, such as the Personal Information Protection Law in mainland China (PIPL) and the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Economic Area (“GDPR”). However, this inconsistency does not mean that the definition is invalid.

A person is considered to be personal data under PDPO if they are identifiable, or can be identified from other information that is collected in any way. For example, a photograph of a crowd at a concert is not personal data because it does not identify individual people (although specific individuals can be discerned from the photograph). This principle also applies to CCTV recordings, logs of persons entering car parks and records of meetings that do not include the names of individual speakers or participants.

There are several prepaid SIM card packages available for use in Hong Kong, including a starter package with HK$ 48 for 10 days and a HK$ 98 plan for 30 days. All plans allow roaming data usage to continue without speed throttling, but access to network resources is given lower priority and data service experience may be affected. The HK$ 98 plan also includes tethering and Facetime, VoIP and WhatsApp calls.

This article by Padraig Walsh from the Tanner De Witt Data Privacy practice group examines a number of key issues in relation to the application of the PDPO in Hong Kong and how this affects data transfers between businesses, both within Hong Kong and into and out of Hong Kong. The article looks at how this is interpreted by the courts, and how businesses need to be aware of these interpretations in order to comply with PDPO requirements effectively. It also considers the impact of the new EU GDPR on data transfers to and from Hong Kong.