Media releases - Hong Kong
Media Release: Privacy Awareness Week, 24-30 August 2008 – "Privacy is Your Business"
26 August 2008
The Estate Agents Authority (EAA) Vice-chairman Mrs Amy Liu and the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Mr Roderick Woo officiated at the kick-off ceremony of the Personal Data Privacy Campaign for Estate Agency Trade today. The campaign was jointly organised by the EAA and the Office of Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD), with the aim of raising the estate agents’ awareness of the importance of protecting their customers’ personal data privacy when they practice estate agency work. The campaign will last about one year.
During the ceremony, Mrs Liu and Mr Woo announced the details of the campaign. “Very often, estate agency practitioners have to collect customers’ personal information for their work,” said Mrs Liu. “Hence, it is very important for practitioners to understand the importance of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance for protecting their customers’ personal data.”
“Through the campaign, the EAA hopes to promote effectively the message of the importance of personal data protection among estate agents and to remind them to comply with the law,” continued Mrs Liu. “The EAA also hopes to encourage employers and managers of estate agency companies to implement measures to ensure that their employees practice in accordance with the law and deal with the personal data of their customers properly.”
Mr Woo expressed his gratitude for the active participation and support of the EAA and members of the estate agency trade. “As the work of estate agents involves the collection and use of personal data, the campaign can help them create a culture of protecting personal data in their work,” he added. “Arrangements have been made for estate agents to attend training courses, reflecting the high regard that the estate agency trade has for the protection of customers’ personal data privacy.”
The PCPD will organize seminars for individual estate agency companies and trade associations to explain to the practitioners the provisions stipulated in the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance and to analyze related cases. Participants will be awarded points under the Continuing Professional Development Scheme. To provide practical guidelines for estate agency practitioners, a booklet on how to protect the personal data of their customers will be published.
Source: www.pcpd.org.hk/english/infocentre/press_20080826.html
