Organisations in the European Union with operations in the United States have, for over a decade now, taken comfort that the transfer of personal data to the United States would be lawful if the recipient had subscribed to the US Safe Harbour Scheme (the "Scheme").  According to the European Commission Decision 2000/520, the operation of … Read more

The Guide contains a summary of the key employment laws and principles in 21 jurisdictions across the Asia Pacific and has become the ‘go to’ resource for HR managers and in-house counsel with employment-related responsibilities in the region. Read more

Data protection in China has been regularly in the news this year. Not only have new data protection regulations been issued, but prosecutions have increased dramatically. In this article, Karen Ip and Owen Cox discuss the employers’ obligations and the risks involved. Read more

Three key changes have recently taken place in the field of employment in Singapore.  Firstly, the Singapore Personal Data Protection Act of 2012, Act 26 of 2012 (PDPA) was enacted at the end of 2012 and parts relating to the administration of the PDPA came into force on 2 January 2013. The main data protection rules … Read more

On 16 July 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) published a new set of regulations entitled “Regulations on the Protection of Personal Information of Telecom and Internet Users” (电信和互联网用户个人信息保护规定). The regulations will come into effect on 1 September 2013. In the following, Michelle Chan, Karen Ip and Clarice Yue provide details of … Read more

The new Companies Ordinance in Hong Kong was enacted on 10 August 2012 and will come into operation in early 2014 (“new CO”). On 28 March 2013, the Government put on hold the commencement of the relevant provisions under the new CO restricting public access to company directors’ personal information on the Companies Register. In … Read more

The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data issued the latest guidance note on the new direct marketing rules (“Guidance Note”) under the Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Ordinance (“Amendment Ordinance”), which will come into effect on 1 April 2013.  Michelle Chan, Tim Mak and Clarice Yue offer practical guidance on compliance under the new regime. Read more

The PRC Standardisation Administration issued a national standard entitled the “Information security technology – Guideline for personal information protection within information system for public and commercial services” (信息安全技朮 公共及商用服务信息系统个人信息保护指南) (the Guidelines) on 5 November 2012. The Guidelines will take effect on 1 February 2013. Michelle Chan, Karen Ip and Clarice Yue provide an overview of … Read more