PLC Paper No. LS 12

Paper for the House Committee Meeting
of the Provisional Legislative Council
on 8 August 1997

Legal Service Division Report on
Subsidiary Legislation Gazetted on 1 August 1997

Date of Tabling in Provisional LegCo : 20 August 1997

Amendment to be made by : 10 September 1997 (or 24 September 1997
if extended by resolution)

Third Schedule to the Banking Ordinance (Cap. 155) Banking (Specification of Public Sector Entities in Hong Kong) (Amendment) Notice 1997 (L.N. 408)

This Notice specifies the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Ltd. (HKMC) as a public sector entity for the purpose of calculating the risk weighted exposure (as defined in the Banking Ordinance) of an authorised institution. The effect of such specification would enable the HKMC to borrow from authorised institutions at a lower cost.

Under the Third Schedule to the Banking Ordinance, a public sector entity means 懀he Mass Transit Railway Corporation, the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, the Hong Kong Housing Authority and any body specified by the Monetary Authority in a notice published in the Gazette�

According to the PLC Brief, the HKMC is wholly owned by the Government through the Exchange Fund. The Financial Secretary and the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority are the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the HKMC respectively.

Members may refer to the PLC Brief issued by the Financial Services Bureau and dated 31 July 1997 for more background information.

Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) (Commencement) Notice 1997 (L.N. 409)

This Notice appoints 1 August 1997 as the day on which section 30 of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (懀he Ordinance� came into operation.

Section 30 allows a data user to carry out a matching procedure if there is consent from the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data or if other prescribed conditions are satisfied.

Under the Ordinance, a matching procedure means 弌ny procedure whereby personal data collected for 1 or more purposes in respect of 10 or more data subjects are compared (except by manual means) with personal data collected for any other purpose in respect of those data subjects where the comparison -

1. is (whether in whole or in part) for the purpose of producing or verifying data that; or
2. produces or verifies data in respect of which it is reasonable to believe that it is practicable that the data, may used (whether immediately or at any subsequent time) for the purposes of taking adverse action against any of those data subjects�

With the commencement of this provision, almost the entire principal ordinance has become operational. The only provision which has yet to come into operation section 33 (Prohibition against transfer of personal data to places outside Hong Kong except in specified circumstances). The Administration has previously indicated that it will be made to commence after the Commissioner has issued guidance for its compliance.

Prepared by

CHEUNG Ping-kam, Arthur
Assistant Legal Adviser
Provisional Legislative Council Secretariat
6 August 1997