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Greater Bay Area
Hong KongHong Kong economy

Hong Kong to launch pilot programme for data sharing with mainland China this year

  • Programme to focus on commonly used data, such as personal health records, banking details and business customer information
  • Details revealed two days after city leader announced in policy address government will liaise with Guangdong province over sharing data within Greater Bay Area

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The government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cyberspace Administration of China on facilitating cross-boundary data flows in June. Photo: AP
Harvey Kong

Hong Kong plans to launch a pilot programme this year for the cross-border transfer of data, covering such areas as health and banking, as the city seeks to become an innovation and technology hub.

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Officials on Friday said data transferred from mainland China to Hong Kong would adhere to the requirements of both jurisdictions.

“We are actively discussing with the Guangdong cyber administration office in terms of the details of facilitating cross-boundary data flow within the Greater Bay Area,” said Government Chief Information Officer Tony Wong Chi-Kwong.
Government Chief Information Officer Tony Wong has vowed data sharing arrangements will confirm with the legal requirements of Hong Kong and mainland China. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
Government Chief Information Officer Tony Wong has vowed data sharing arrangements will confirm with the legal requirements of Hong Kong and mainland China. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

The pilot programme would focus on commonly used data, such as personal health records, banking details and businesses’ customer information.

“We hope we can facilitate the movement of these types of data conveniently in the Greater Bay Area in compliance with the country’s legal requirement for data export,” he said. “We will try to strive for a pilot programme within this year.”

The details of the programme were revealed two days after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced in his policy address that the government would liaise with Guangdong province to make it easier to share data with the rest of the Greater Bay Area.
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The bay area refers to Beijing’s plan to unite Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong into an economic powerhouse by 2035.

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