Primasia Corporate Services Limited

Friday, 20 April 2012

Hong Kong Updates- Personal Data

Revised proposals for the Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Bill

(a) 'Deemed consent' arrangement removed - change from ‘opt out’ to ‘opt in’, i.e. consent will now not be deemed to have been given if a data subject does not respond to a request for permission to use his data for direct marketing purposes.

(b) No longer a requirement for later indication of objection to use of personal data to be in writing, i.e. it can also be made orally.

(c) Now a requirement that data users must explicitly state in the information to be provided to the data subject their intention to use the personal data, or provide the data to other persons for use in direct marketing or for sale.

(d) Grandfathering - if the data user has been using personal data in direct marketing in compliance with the requirements of the existing Ordinance and intends to continue to use the data in the same way, they may be exempted from the new Ordinance.

(e) Scope of regulatory regime – it is now recognised that the scope of the draft Bill may have been too wide and it is proposed therefore to narrow the scope.

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Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our Website/ Blogger/ LinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

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Please contact:
John Barclay -Email
Teresa Tam - Email
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Primasia Corporate Services Limited
Tel: +852 2882 2088
Suite 1106-08, 11/F., Tai Yau Building, No. 181 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Hong Kong Updates- Paternity leave

Paternity leave
From 1 April 2012, eligible government employees will become entitled to 5 working days of paternity leave on full pay on each occasion of childbirth. Whilst this does not bind the private sector, it is intended to be strongly influential on the private sector and it is expected that, as happened with the 5-day week, the private sector will fairly quickly follow the government’s lead.

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Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our Website/ Blogger/ LinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

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Friday, 6 April 2012

Hong Kong Updates- Reinstatement of employees

Reinstatement of employees

If an employee has been dismissed unlawfully and without a valid reason, an employee cannot currently be reinstated without the employer’s consent, i.e. by order of the Labour Tribunal.The government has proposed (and the Labour Department is drafting) amendments to the Employment Ordinance which would mean that the Labour Tribunal will be able to make such an order without the employer's consent.

The Tribunal will have to consider (when deciding whether to make such an order) the relationship between the employee and the employer, the circumstances surrounding the dismissal, and whether the employer may face any genuine difficulties in complying with the order.

It will still be possible for the employer not to reinstate the employee, but penalties will apply, i.e. it will be more expensive (up to HK$50,000).

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Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our Website/ Blogger/ LinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

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Friday, 16 March 2012

China Updates- Technology

Internet - new provisions will come into effect on 15th March to outlaw unfair practices between website operators and to enhance protection for internet users.

In addition, and for the first time, personal data is/are defined in an attempt to introduce data protection and privacy in China. 'User's Personal Data' is defined as any data which is related to a user and is able to identify a user if used independently or in conjunction with other information (a relatively broad definition).

them from selling the trademark in Hong Kong. March 2012.

Apple/Proview dispute – Proview, a Shenzhen subsidiary of a Taiwanese company, applied for an injunction to prevent Apple from using the iPad trademark in China.

Not a mere squatting case, Proview and its parent had registered “iPad” as a Trademark n Taiwan and China long before the iPad was marketed by Apple.

Apple thought it had acquired the name from the entire group. A decision in December 2011 by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court went against Apple. The Court observed that, when acquiring rademarks, one should acquire them from the real owner(s). As a result of this ruling, which Apple is appealing, iPads were pulled from the shelves all over China.

However, the Shanghai Pudong New District Court has more recently refused an application by Proview for an injunction, whilst the Hong Kong courts, obviously applying common law rather than PRC law, granted an injunction against Proview and its former owner to prevent them from selling the trademark in Hong Kong.

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Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our Website/ Blogger/ LinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

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Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Hong Kong Updates - Budget Highlights

Budget (1st February). Highlights were as follows:

- To waive property rates for 2012/13.

- To increase personal tax allowances.

- (Possible) abolition of capital duty

- Waiver of the annual and a waiver of the annual business registration fee of USD 315 for the year 2012-2013.

All of this of course makes Hong Kong an even more attractive place to invest or to work.

New legislation: the Pyramid Schemes Prohibition Ordinance (Cap. 617). This Ordinance, which replaces Cap. 355, makes pyramid selling, as newly defined, illegal and a criminal offence. A pyramid scheme is now defined as one in which new participants must provide a payment (not necessarly cash) that is entirely or substantially induced by the possibility that they will be entitled to receive a benefit that is (in turn) entirely or substantially derived from the (further) introduction of new participants. The definition now includes services whereas previously only goods were covered.

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Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our Website/ Blogger/ LinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

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Wednesday, 15 February 2012

China Updates- 2011 Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment

The 2011 Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment will become effective on 30 January 2012, repealing and replacing the previous (2007) version.

Of most likely interest to foreign investors are the sectors which are being liberalised. For example,

Production of carbonated beverages, containers and fiscal cash registers.
Healthcare – the construction and operation of medical institutions.
Wholesale and retail – e.g. franchising.
Commodity auctions.
Financial leasing.

However, some business sectors have been added to the "restricted" category, subject to stricter requirements and approval procedures.

These include industries which apply old (environmentally unfriendly) technology (cf. tax incentives for environmentally friendly industries). In addition, foreign investors are now not permitted to construct and operate golf courses or villas, or to offer domestic postal services.

Further clarification is expected.

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Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our Website/ Blogger/ LinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

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Friday, 10 February 2012

Tax Transparency- Hong Kong’s position on double tax agreements

In January, a seminar was given by the IRD and the Global Forum on Tax Transparency, updating Hong Kong’s position on double tax agreements (DTAs).

Hong Kong has now signed 22 DTAs, most of them in 2010 and 2011, of which at least 14 will be in effect in or from 2012. The remainders are either still to be ratified or the implementation date is set for beyond

2012.

A key point made by the Global Forum speaker was that Hong Kong law does not currently permit the entering into of tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs). Thus, tax information exchange can only

take place through a DTA. This is likely to delay the signing of DTAs with, for example, the US, Australia and the Nordic countries, which have a preference for separate TIEAs.

Whilst Hong Kong has never been on the OECD/FATF tax blacklist, there is now some pressure on Hong Kong to amend its law on TIEAs (to allow them) so as not to appear a “freeloader” in the international tax system.

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Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our Website/ Blogger/ LinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

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