The Property Management Services Authority (PMSA) announced today that pursuant to Section 5(1) of the Property Management Services Ordinance (Cap. 626) (PMSO), a Code of Conduct entiteled “Protection of Personal Data” will be gazetted and take effect tomorrow.
The PMSA has also prepared the respective Best Practice Guide in order to allow property management company (PMC) and property management practitioner (PMP) licensees to comply with the guidelines stipulated in the Code of Conduct more effectively and professionally. The Code of Conduct covers the following aspects:
- Personal data protection principles;
- Collection of personal data;
- Accuracy and retention period of personal data;
- Use and disclosure of personal data;
- Security of personal data;
- Handling requests of access and correction of personal data;
- Oursourcing the processing of personal data to data processors;
- Installation and use of Closed Circuit Television; and
- Use of personal data for direct marketing.
The PMSA Chairperson Mr Tony TSE said, “PMCs and PMPs are often required to collect and handle personal data in carrying out their everyday work. The newly promulgated “Protection of Personal Data” Code of Conduct and its respective Best Practice Guide provide PMCs and PMPs with practical guidelines regarding the management of privacy matters in order to strengthen the protection of personal data.”
The “Protection of Personal Data” Code of Conduct and its respective Best Practice Guide were formulated in consultation with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong, the property management industry and owners’ organisations, which included the holding of a focus group discussion online on 19 August, whereby views from 10 industry associations were collected. The feedback collected from the consultation has been appropriately reflected in the code and guide.
Chairperson TSE said, “The PMSA would wish to take this opportunity to thank the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong, the property management industry and owners’ organisations for their valuable views and comments on formulating the ‘Protection of Personal Data’ Code of Conduct” and its respective Best Practice Guide to ensure that the Code and Guide are comprehensive and practical to meet industry needs.”
The aforesaid Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guide can be downloaded from the following PMSA webpage:
https://www.pmsa.org.hk/en/regulatory/regulating-licensees#reg-04
The PMSA will further issue other Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guides timely, covering different property management areas in order to provide guidance to the industry, including but not limited to the following:
- Provision of prescribed information and financial documents to clients by Property Management Companies;
- Handling payment for or arranging payment for clients;
- Prevention of bid-rigging;
- Handling instrument appointing a proxy;
- Mechanism of handling emergencies;
- Managing scaffolding works to be carried out at a property;
- Carrying out procurement for clients; and
- Mechanism of managing distribution of promotional material at a property.
The PMSA has already issued the following Codes of Conduct: “General Code of Conduct”, “Complaint Handling Mechanism of Property Management Companies”, “Effective Control over Property Management Business by Property Management Companies”, “Handling Moneys Received on behalf of Clients by Property Management Companies”, “Obligations of Property Management Companies regarding the Ending of their Appointment”, “Prevention of Corruption” and “Prescribed Conditions on Licences” as well as the related guides for the property management industry.
Ends/Thursday, 21 October 2021
Issued at HKT 16:00
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