Data protection in Hong Kong is an integral part of everyday life, and is of vital importance in safeguarding personal information. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has created the Personal Data Protection Ordinance (“PDPO”). This legal framework sets forth fundamental rights for individuals while outlining specific obligations for data users; additionally it regulates collection, holding, processing and use by six data protection principles with strict fines applied if personal data is disclosed unlawfully.
Since 1996 when it was initially implemented, the definition of personal data in the PDPO has not changed to remain compliant with international norms. It includes information that identifies or can be used to identify a natural person; such as names; identification numbers; contact information; location data; online identifiers and factors specific to physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic cultural or social facets. PDPO regulations stipulate that no personal data can be collected without explicit consent of its subject and only collected legally for lawful purposes.
Data users are also required to inform individuals of the purpose and length of time they plan to keep their personal data for. At present, however, businesses determine this obligation according to their legal and business needs, which may differ significantly depending on individual businesses. It may become mandated under PDPO amendments; however this has yet to be confirmed at this point.
Another area in which the PDPO should be updated is in terms of its extraterritorial application. According to current law, any personal data leaving Hong Kong without specific exemption is unlawful – this poses significant constraints that prevent the efficient and secure management of data flows between Hong Kong and other jurisdictions.
To become a data analyst in Hong Kong, it is recommended to gain an extensive knowledge base in mathematics, statistics and computer science through formal education or online courses, familiarizing oneself with programming languages like Python and SQL as well as internships/networking opportunities as well as any relevant certifications.
GovHK does not collect your personal data directly; however, we use cookies and page tagging to monitor search activity on our website for purposes of improving service delivery. Your privacy is of paramount importance to us; therefore we will never match data gathered with any personal information possibly held by the Government. Please read our privacy statement here for more information – should any questions arise, do not hesitate to contact us; our Customer Services hotline number is 2736 0211. Thank you again for supporting GovHK!