Day: October 24, 2024

As a data expert, you may have a keen interest in how the laws around data protection are changing worldwide. However, if you are a business operating in Hong Kong, you will be aware that there are specific and significant obligations to fulfil under our existing framework.

One of these is the obligation to fulfil a range of statutory obligations where a person acquires personal data and is considered a “data user”. This includes, inter alia, complying with the six DPPs that form core data obligations, and ensuring that those obligations are met in respect of cross-border transfers (as data transfer is a form of data use).

This requirement was introduced under PDPO in 2014 with the intention of facilitating increased cross-border data flow, which was seen as an irreplaceable attribute of Hong Kong’s economy. However, resistance from the business community to implementing section 33 resulted in its being dropped from the agenda of legislative reform of the PDPO for some time.

When a data user is considering transferring personal data to a non-EEA country, the PDPO requires him or her to undertake an assessment of whether that jurisdiction’s law and practices will result in the transferred data not being adequately protected. If this assessment is adverse, the data exporter must either suspend the transfer or implement adequate supplementary measures.

The assessment will need to consider technical measures such as encryption, anonymisation or pseudonymisation; contractual measures such as audit, inspection and reporting, beach notification, and compliance support and co-operation arrangements; and other measures such as ensuring that data processing in the data importer’s jurisdiction is carried out under a binding decision of a supervisory authority. However, in limited circumstances, the data exporter may be able to proceed without imposing any supplementary measures if it can demonstrate that it has no reason to believe that the relevant jurisdiction’s laws and practices will not adequately protect the transferred personal data.

This position may seem out of step with international trends and, in particular, the increasing emphasis on adequacy and equivalent regimes. But it is not necessarily without merit, particularly given the specific circumstances of Hong Kong and the need to maintain our competitive advantage in global data flows. In the long run, though, it is likely that market forces and the need to have efficient and reliable means of transferring data with mainland China and internationally will drive change in Hong Kong’s position. In the meantime, businesses should take heed of the PCPD’s guidance on implementing cross-border transfers and ensure that they are fully up to speed with what is required. For those who need help in ensuring compliance, hiring a data privacy officer (DPO) may be worth the investment.

The sidney prize is a monthly award for outstanding journalism that exposes social injustices. Nominated articles must have appeared in a magazine, newspaper or online site the previous month. The winner is chosen by a panel of judges. The winner receives a $500 honorarium and a certificate designed by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Sorel. Nominations can be for one’s own work or someone else’s. The prize is named for philosopher and Phi Beta Kappa member Sidney Hook, who valued national distinction in scholarship, undergraduate teaching and leadership in the cause of liberal arts education.

The 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize was won by Annie Zhang for her story ‘Who Rattles the Night?’. The shortlist also included ‘A Map of Underneath’ by Madeleine Rebbechi and ‘Whack-a-Mole’ by Sheila Ngoc Pham. The winners will be published in Overland’s autumn 2024 issue, and the runners-up will be featured on our website. The competition was supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation and the Sydney Morning Herald. Overland is a nonprofit literary journal that publishes nonfiction, poetry, short stories and essays in service of the common good. The magazine is located on unceded Wangal land in western Sydney, Australia. To support our mission, please subscribe here.

In the 2025 U.S Hillman Prizes, judges were impressed by the depth of research and attention to detail in these two pieces:

“Rediscovering Central Asia” by S. Frederick Starr in The Wilson Quarterly

This piece takes readers on a journey into the mountains that surround Afghanistan. It recounts a time when the region was an intellectual center, home to civilizations that invented trigonometry and crystallization, estimated the Earth’s diameter with astonishing accuracy, and anticipated Darwin’s theory of evolution. It also explores the long decline of that region — including the Sunni-Shiite war that contributed to it — and modern glimmers of revival.