Hong Kong holds off sweeping privacy law revamp over concerns of impact on businesses
Privacy watchdog says stakeholders feel stiffer penalties over data breaches ‘should be done carefully amid lukewarm economic climate’
A long-awaited legislative reform to empower Hong Kong authorities to penalise companies over data breaches has been put on hold over concerns it might put a dampener on the local business environment, lawmakers have been told.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai said on Monday that the government could consider a “piecemeal approach” by first introducing minor improvements to minimise the impact on small businesses.
Tsang made the remarks while appearing alongside Privacy Commissioner Ada Chung Lai-ling at a meeting of the Legislative Council’s constitutional affairs panel.
Chung said her office had been studying amending the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to give the watchdog more teeth.
Proposed major changes include empowering the privacy watchdog to impose administrative fines, making the reporting of data leak incidents mandatory, requiring companies to devise data retention policies and also increasing penalties.
“The law has been in place for 28 years and there has not been any change in the penalties,” Chung said.
