The Secretary for Commence and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, will depart for Shanghai on November 4 (Sunday) to attend the inaugural China International Import Expo (CIIE) to promote Hong Kong's role as a strategic gateway and important hub connecting China to the world.

     The Expo, to be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai from November 5 to 10, consists of the Country Pavilion for Trade and Investment, the Enterprise and Business Exhibition, and the Hongqiao International Economic and Trade Forum which comprises an opening ceremony, three parallel sessions and the Hongqiao International Business Media and Think Tank Forum.

     Hong Kong will participate actively on various fronts at the CIIE. A Hong Kong Exhibition Area will be set up by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government inside the China Pavilion of the Country Pavilion for Trade and Investment to showcase Hong Kong's strengths, major infrastructure projects, popular tourist attractions, and products and inventions. Hong Kong's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development, its contributions to the reform and opening up of the country, and the implementation of "one country, two systems" and the Basic Law will also be major themes.

     Over 160 Hong Kong enterprises will take part in the Enterprise and Business Exhibition. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) will set up a Hong Kong Services Zone and a Hong Kong Product Zone to exhibit a wide array of quality products and services to international exhibitors and buyers.

     Mr Yau will attend one of the parallel sessions in the afternoon on November 5 and deliver an opening address at a sub-forum entitled "Seminar on 'Hong Kong's Experiences for International Trade': New Horizon·New Technology·New Model" co-organised by the Trade and Industry Department and the HKTDC in the morning on November 6.

     The sub-forum will feature industry experts from the innovation and technology, finance and legal sectors. They include the Group Chairman of the Fung Group, Dr Victor Fung; the Expert Partner of Sequoia China Fund, Mr Herbert Chia; the Chief Corporate Banking Officer of Bank of China (Hong Kong), Mr Lin Guangming; and Member of the Greater China Legal Affairs Committee of the Law Society of Hong Kong Mr Lawrence Yeung. They will explore issues including big data applications, support for cross-border enterprises provided by Hong Kong financial services and risk management by Hong Kong professional services, highlighting possible roles for the local services sectors in international trade.

     Mr Yau will return to Hong Kong in the evening on November 6. During his absence, the Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Dr Bernard Chan, will be the Acting Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development.

     The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) announced today (October 31) the results of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Trading Fund (EMSTF) for 2017-18. The EMSTF had another year of steady performance, with total revenue of $6.511 billion, and returns on revenue of 9.6 per cent. Both figures increased over the preceding year.

     The Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services and the EMSTF General Manager, Mr Alfred Sit, said 2018 marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of EMSD and the department would continue to serve the community wholeheartedly and foster innovation and digitisation in the electrical and mechanical (E&M) sector.

     "By promoting collaboration among the start-ups, the academia, the E&M sector, the government and the public sectors, the department is dedicated to fostering innovation and technology development in the trade. We will also seize the opportunities driven by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in innovation and technology development and strengthen our role as a facilitator in training and exchanges of E&M talent in the region," he said.

     The EMSTF Annual Report was tabled in the Legislative Council and uploaded to the EMSD website (www.emsd.gov.hk/en/rl/EMSTF_AR_1718) today for public reference.

     Following is a question by the Hon Lam Cheuk-ting and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (October 31):

Question:

     It has been reported that the Hospital Authority (HA) has transferred patients' personal data to the Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (the Faculty of Medicine) each year since 2010 to facilitate the conduct of a Patient Experience Survey through telephone interviews by the Faculty of Medicine. A respondent has recently complained that HA has transferred her personal data (including consultation records) to the Faculty of Medicine without her consent. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

(1) the quantity and contents of the patients' personal data that were transferred by HA to other organisations in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by reason for the transfer and name of organisation;

(2) whether HA had, prior to transferring the patients' personal data mentioned in (1) to other organisations, obtained the consent of each data subject; if HA had, of the relevant procedure and details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether the authorities have assessed if such a practice has contravened the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap 486); if the authorities have assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the authorities' remedial measures and law enforcement actions; and

(3) (i) how the organisations to whom HA has transferred patients' personal data store such data, (ii) at what stage they destroy the data, and (iii) whether they have transferred the data to other organisations; if they have, of the details?

Reply:

President,

     My consolidated reply to the various parts of the question raised by the Hon Lam Cheuk-ting is as follows:

     To understand the needs of patients for continuous service monitoring and enhancement, the Hospital Authority (HA) regularly conducts Patient Experience Surveys (PES) on in-patient, specialist out-patient or other specialty services. Through an open tender and by contractual means, HA commissioned the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care (JCSPHPC), Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to assist HA in conducting PES on three major service areas, namely Accident and Emergency, in-patient and specialist out-patient services, from 2016 to 2018. Patients' experience and feedback on HA's services are collected by way of telephone interviews. No other organisations are involved in the conduct of the surveys. The survey results will be in a non-patient identifiable form, and only show the respondents' overall ratings on HA's services, as well as their general demographic information and health profile.

     In accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO) and the information provided by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, HA, as the data user, protects personal data entrusted to the JCSPHPC (i.e. the data processor) mainly by contractual means, including specifying and monitoring the security measures required to be taken by the JCSPHPC. For example, timely return, destruction or deletion of the personal data entrusted for processing; prohibition against any use or disclosure of the personal data for other purposes; and prohibition against sub-contracting the provision of the service entrusted without HA's consent. In addition to contractual regulation, HA has appointed members of the JCSPHPC research and telephone interview teams as its honorary staff to ensure the proper conduct of PES. Under contractual regulation and in the capacity of honorary staff, both teams are authorised to carry out the surveys. Same as HA staff, the honorary staff are required to comply strictly with HA's guidelines and PDPO in processing personal data.

     The data of randomly selected patients will be provided to the JCSPHPC telephone interview team.  The quantity of patient data obtained by the interview team in the past three years is set out in the table below:
 

 
     Only basic and necessary data of patients have been kept by the interview team to facilitate their obtaining patient consent and conducting the surveys. For example, in the 2018 PES on specialist out-patient service, the data of a patient obtained by the interview team include the patient's name, contact number, sex, age, residential district and information about his/her specialist out-patient clinic attendance (including name of hospital/clinic, type of specialist service, dates of consultation and date of next follow-up appointment). The interview team is required to clearly explain to the patients that JCSPHPC is commissioned by HA to conduct this survey. The interview team is also required to obtain patients' verbal consent on behalf of HA before conducting telephone interviews with the patients. Patients have the right to consent or refuse to participate in the survey, and to withdraw at any time from the survey or refuse to answer any questions during the survey. All data collected will be handled in strict confidence and used solely for survey purpose. After completion of the interview, feedback from patients who have agreed to participate in the survey will be passed to the research team in a non-patient identifiable form for analysis.

     HA has posted a "notice to patient" at public hospitals/clinics to explain the purposes and practice of collecting or disclosing patients' personal data. It is stated in the notice that HA staff may ask a patient to provide personal data (including health information) or obtain from HA/HA Entity/any appropriate third party the patient's medical history/relevant information. Such information is for purposes relating to the patient's healthcare/general related purposes (including, but not limited to, treatment, charges levied by HA/HA Entities on the patient, research and education).

     In order to let the public understand the purposes, format and the service aspects covered by PES, HA has proactively and extensively promulgated the survey at public hospitals/clinics before commencement of the survey. Ways of promulgation include setting up roll-up banners and posters at prominent locations, distribution of information leaflets and issuing press release to appeal for active participation of patients.

     The HA understands the public’s concern about personal privacy. To avoid unnecessary misunderstanding in future, work related to telephone interviews is now divided into two parts. HA will first obtain patient consent in line with the above practice. The data of the consented patients will then be given to the interview team for conducting detailed telephone surveys.

     The JCSPHPC has stringent measures to ensure proper storage of the data concerned. During the survey period, all documents containing patients' personal data will be locked in the cabinets of the team's office and the keys will be kept by designated persons. All patient information will be destroyed under the supervision of HA staff upon completion of the surveys. The JCSPHPC will not transfer any information provided by HA to other organisations.

     From time to time, HA may commission other institutions to conduct research on different subjects. If the research involves patients' personal data, HA will protect the data by contractual means in accordance with PDPO.

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Wednesday, October 31, 2018 is 106.1 (up 0.2 against yesterday's index).

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (October 31) released the findings of its food safety report for last month. The results of about 11 200 food samples tested were satisfactory except for nine samples which were announced earlier. The overall satisfactory rate was 99.9 per cent.
     
     A CFS spokesman said about 1 100 food samples were collected for microbiological tests, some 3 100 samples were taken for chemical tests and the remaining 7 000 (including about 6 700 taken from food imported from Japan) were collected to test radiation levels.
     
     The microbiological tests covered pathogens and hygienic indicators, while the chemical tests included pesticides, preservatives, metallic contaminants, colouring matters, veterinary drug residues and others.
     
     The samples comprised about 3 000 samples of vegetables and fruit and their products; 700 samples of meat and poultry and their products; 1 600 samples of aquatic and related products; 800 samples of milk, milk products and frozen confections; 700 samples of cereals, grains and their products; and 4 400 samples of other food commodities (including beverages, bakery products and snacks).
     
     The nine unsatisfactory samples comprised three vegetable and fruit samples detected with pesticide residues exceeding the legal limits; a grass carp sample and a grass carp fish maw sample detected with trace amounts of malachite green; two popsicle samples found to contain coliform bacteria exceeding the legal limit; a blue crab sample detected with chloramphenicol; and a packed milk drink sample found to contain excessive Bacillus cereus.
     
     The CFS has taken follow-up action on the unsatisfactory samples, including informing the vendors concerned of the test results, instructing them to stop selling the affected food items and tracing the sources of the food items in question.
         
     Since the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation (Cap 132CM) came into effect on August 1, 2014, as of September 30 this year, the CFS has taken over 156 000 food samples at the import, wholesale and retail levels for testing for pesticide residues. The overall unsatisfactory rate is less than 0.2 per cent.
         
     The spokesman added that excessive pesticide residues in food may arise from the trade not observing Good Agricultural Practice, e.g. using excessive pesticides and/or not allowing sufficient time for pesticides to decompose before harvesting. The maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticide residues in food set in the Regulation are not safety indicators. They are the maximum concentrations of pesticide residues to be permitted in a food commodity under Good Agricultural Practice when applying pesticides. In this connection, consumption of food with pesticide residues higher than the MRLs will not necessarily lead to any adverse health effects.
     
     The spokesman reminded the food trade to ensure that food for sale is fit for human consumption and meets legal requirements. Consumers should patronise reliable shops when buying food and maintain a balanced diet to minimise food risks.