Day: January 20, 2025

The 8th Inter-School Competition of Study Projects on Hong Kong History and Culture has been successfully held. The aim of the prize is to enhance students’ knowledge about Hong Kong’s history and encourage them to learn actively outside class. This year, the competition attracted over 5,000 entries from more than 20 schools. The winning projects include “The Trembling Ground” by Diocesan Girls’ School, “Relationship between China and Hong Kong – A Study of the Centennial History of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce” by Lui Cheung Kwong Lutheran College, and “A New Way to Look at Traditional Painting Techniques” by Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Joshua Wong, a leader of the umbrella protest movement in Hong Kong, has been nominated for a Nobel peace prize. US lawmakers, including Republican senator Marco Rubio, have recommended the prize for Wong and his fellow democracy activists for their non-violent quest to wrestle democratic concessions from Beijing’s authoritarian rulers. However, the prize committee is unlikely to give the award to anyone involved in the demonstrations because of concerns about the political implications of rewarding people who oppose the government.

In a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Rubio and other bipartisan lawmakers said that the protesters embodied the peaceful aspirations of Hong Kong’s citizens, who want their autonomy protected and their aspirations for democracy fulfilled by Beijing. They also warned that Beijing has cracked down on dissent in the financial hub by enforcing the National Security Law, which restricts freedom of expression. They added that they expect more Hong Kong democracy activists to be convicted for expressing their views, especially since Beijing has imposed the National Security Law.

The prize money offered to athletes who win a gold medal at the Olympic Games is double that of other medal winners. This means that a Singaporean kiteboarder Maximilian Maeder, who is in line to become the first person from Asia to win a gold medal at the Olympics this summer, could receive as much as HK$12 million.

The BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize (the hk prize) is a science and technology award which provides recognition for scientific research and technological innovations with great potential for application in the Greater Bay Area. The prize is open to individuals, universities and companies in the Greater Bay Area that support the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and are committed to high social morality and professional ethics. The review and evaluation of the applicants will be conducted in a professional and objective manner. An independent review procedure has been formulated to ensure that the prize will be awarded based on merit.

When Hong Kong first adopted modern data privacy laws in 1995, section 33 was intended to regulate the transfer of personal information outside the territory. As increasing cross-border business flows became a feature of daily life in Hong Kong, however, the implementation of this provision was slowed by resistance from the business community. This has continued over the years, with many businesses taking the view that the impact of such a restriction on their operations would outweigh any potential benefits in terms of protecting personal data privacy.

With this in mind, it now looks likely that the statutory restrictions set out in section 33 will never come into effect. Instead, the PCPD has signalled that there will be a shift in approach to regulation of international data transfers, with emphasis being placed on promoting efficient compliance.

One of the key points to consider in this respect is whether a particular activity really involves the transfer of personal data, or not. In broad terms, personal data is defined in the PDPO to refer to any information that identifies an individual, or can be used to identify them, even when they are not directly identifiable from that data. The key questions are therefore whether the activity in question involves a transfer of personal data, and, if so, whether the purpose for which that personal data is collected and processed is lawful.

An example of where the collection and processing of personal data may be lawful is a photograph taken at an event of a crowd of people attending a concert, provided that the photo is not used to identify any individuals in it (the principle of “no identification required”). Other examples include CCTV recordings, logs of persons entering car parks and records of meetings that do not identify individual speakers or participants.

The next step is to determine whether any statutory obligations apply. The most significant is the obligation on a data user to comply with the six core data protection principles (“DPPs”). This includes DPP1 (Purpose and collection of personal data) and DPP3 (Use of personal data). In relation to DPP3, the relevant requirement is that a data user discloses the purposes for which it collects the personal data, the classes of person to whom that personal data may be transferred, and any other third party to whom it might disclose that personal data. This requirement is generally fulfilled by providing a PICS to data subjects before collecting their personal data.

Other data transfer-related obligations could also arise, such as the obligation on a Hong Kong business to agree standard contractual clauses in circumstances where it transfers the personal data of EEA persons to an EEA country; and the requirement to contribute to an adverse transfer impact assessment in circumstances where it transfers the personal data of an EEA person to an EEA country. Those requirements are generally fulfilled by incorporating data transfer provisions into contractual arrangements with data users and processors, whether in separate contracts or schedules to the main commercial agreement.