accept expanding the scope of specified persons to cover the media and other sectors, as in their views it would not be sufficient to help protect the right of other members of the public to have access to the personal information of directors. These stakeholders are of the view that the status quo should be maintained, arguing that the existing regime has been working well, with no clear evidence of abuse of the personal information of directors on the Companies Register. 10. Some of stakeholders suggested that new safeguard measures can be introduced under the existing inspection regime to deter abuse, for example, the introduction of a registration system under which all persons who conduct company searches must first provide their personal information to the Companies Registry, such that their identity can be traced in case of complaints so as to deter unscrupulous inspections. Some went further and suggested that the directors with full personal information being accessed may request to be informed of the identity of the person having made the inspection. 11. On the other hand, some stakeholders maintained their support for the new arrangement, underlining the importance of protecting the directors' right to privacy of personal information. They noted that the advocacy of the right to privacy is commonly seen worldwide, and they opined that protecting directors' full personal information does not mean the public will have no recourse against directors or the companies they are with, as, for example, public authorities will continue to have access to the full personal information of directors in case there is a need to do so when pursuing against wrongdoers. 12. ... the new arrangement will not affect our (the government’s) regulatory and enforcement work, and will not compromise the operations of financial institutions on the laundering front. ... we have brought into operation a new legislation on anti-money laundering in April 2012, which stipulates the preventive measures to be put in place by financial institutions and facilitates our financial regulators to combat money laundering and terrorist financing activities effectively. Financial institutions may, under the new arrangement, apart from verifying a director's identity with his/her correspondence address and partial identification number, also apply to the Companies Registry for inspecting the residential address and full identification number of a director upon authorisation by the director concerned in order to perform their role in anti-money laundering. Where necessary, regulators and law enforcement agencies may obtain full personal information of directors from the Companies Registry. ... under the new arrangement, Hong Kong would still be among the most transparent jurisdictions in terms of disclosure of directors’ information on the Companies Register, given
accept expanding the scope of specified persons to cover the media and other sectors, as in their views it would not be sufficient to help protect the right of other members of the public to have access to the personal information of directors. These stakeholders are of the view that the status quo should be maintained, arguing that the existing regime has been working well, with no clear evidence of abuse of the personal information of directors on the Companies Register. 10. Some of stakeholders suggested that new safeguard measures can be introduced under the existing inspection regime to deter abuse, for example, the introduction of a registration system under which all persons who conduct company searches must first provide their personal information to the Companies Registry, such that their identity can be traced in case of complaints so as to deter unscrupulous inspections. Some went further and suggested that the directors with full personal information being accessed may request to be informed of the identity of the person having made the inspection. 11. On the other hand, some stakeholders maintained their support for the new arrangement, underlining the importance of protecting the directors' right to privacy of personal information. They noted that the advocacy of the right to privacy is commonly seen worldwide, and they opined that protecting directors' full personal information does not mean the public will have no recourse against directors or the companies they are with, as, for example, public authorities will continue to have access to the full personal information of directors in case there is a need to do so when pursuing against wrongdoers. 12. ... the new arrangement will not affect our (the government’s) regulatory and enforcement work, and will not compromise the operations of financial institutions on the laundering front. ... we have brought into operation a new legislation on anti-money laundering in April 2012, which stipulates the preventive measures to be put in place by financial institutions and facilitates our financial regulators to combat money laundering and terrorist financing activities effectively. Financial institutions may, under the new arrangement, apart from verifying a director's identity with his/her correspondence address and partial identification number, also apply to the Companies Registry for inspecting the residential address and full identification number of a director upon authorisation by the director concerned in order to perform their role in anti-money laundering. Where necessary, regulators and law enforcement agencies may obtain full personal information of directors from the Companies Registry. ... under the new arrangement, Hong Kong would still be among the most transparent jurisdictions in terms of disclosure of directors’ information on the Companies Register, given
BH3769-module%2022_t_Sep2016_eng.docx