December 2022 vol.1- New inspection regime to enhance privacy rights of directors and other officers under the Companies Ordinance

The balance between the privacy rights of directors and other officers and the right of the public to access them through searches has been a vexed issue for years.

Provisions of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) (“CO”) to enhance protection of personal information while keeping up the transparency and usefulness of the Companies Register were passed by the Legislative Council in July 2012. They however had not been fully effected.

It was announced in 2021 that the promulgation of the provisions of the CO to withhold the protected information will be done in three phases.

The phased approach will allow the Companies Registry (“CR”) to upgrade its IT system progressively. Phase 1 and phase 2 of the new inspection regime have already come into force.

In this company secretarial newsletter, we will focus on the updates on the commencement of the new inspection regime. 

Document

MZHK-Company-Secretarial-Newsletter_​Dec-vol.1.pdf