Hong Kong’s strategic position as one of the world’s most carrier-dense network hubs has made it an important destination for colocation facilities, where customers connect to their business partners and networks. To help them take advantage of the region’s thriving business ecosystem, Equinix has opened data centers across the city, delivering on our commitment to provide the best possible connectivity to customers.
As a result of the growing popularity of our data centres, we have launched an online portal to help data centre operators find and secure sites in Hong Kong. The portal details our availability of sites as well as the government support available to businesses interested in establishing their operations here.
The portal also contains helpful information on data hk, a new website to promote the value and benefits of Hong Kong as an international hub for cloud computing, big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). The site includes useful tips and recommendations for companies considering their options for hosting and interconnecting in Hong Kong.
Whether you are a global corporation, a mid-sized business or an emerging start-up, the data hk platform can help you achieve your connectivity objectives by connecting you to a vast and diverse community of other users. We look forward to welcoming you to our ever-growing data centre ecosystem.
Cross-border data flow is a major consideration for a business contemplating transferring personal data outside of Hong Kong. Although the PDPO does not contain a statutory restriction on the transfer of personal data out of Hong Kong, there are significant protections that are triggered by a person’s status as a “data user”.
A “data user” is a person who controls the collection, holding, processing or use of personal data. This is broadly defined, and can include situations such as a photographer taking photographs at a public event that may identify individual attendees, or CCTV recordings of people entering car parks, or records of meetings that identify particular participants.
Where a data user controls the transfer of personal data out of Hong Kong, then the PDPO requires him to fulfil a broad set of statutory obligations, including the six core data protection principles (“DPPs”) that comprise the cornerstones of privacy law in Hong Kong. If he does not comply with these, then any transfers out of the jurisdiction are potentially unlawful.
In order to avoid such a conclusion, the PDPO requires a data exporter to review his PICS to determine whether he has expressedly informed the data subject of the purposes for which the personal data will be used, and of the classes of persons to whom it may be transferred. A data exporter must also adopt contractual or other measures to ensure that any personal data transferred to a foreign jurisdiction complies with the DPPs.