[Hong Kong, August 5, 2019] The Institute of Big Data Governance (iBDG) today unveils its world-first globally compatible Big Data Governance Principles 1.0 and Independent Assessment Scheme 1.0 to create a trusted data governance framework for business and society as the world enters an era of data-driven digital economies.

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The principles and the assessment scheme are the first in the industry to combine requirements from EU’s GDPR, Mainland China’s Cybersecurity Law and ISO standards in elevating Hong Kong’s data governance practices to a new world standard. Companies who pledge to these Principles (as iBDG Pledged Members) or achieve full certification (as iBDG Certified Members) will gain public confidence and trust through their commitment to observing higher standards in data governance.

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iBDG’s Big Data Governance Principles 1.0 covers four key areas of: Data processing, Personal Data Breach, Data Transfer, and Continuous Improvement. These address the growing call for more stringent and standardized rules on the management, movement and protection of data. The concerns around data come on the back of accelerated global digital transformation, critical reliance on data by business and society, and growing data security and privacy issues.

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In addition to fulfilling Hong Kong’s digital transformation ambitions, there is also an urgent need for trusted cross-border data flow to deliver on the vision of the Greater Bay Area innovation powerhouse. The call for better governance has reached the global stage as world leaders at the recent G20 Summit demanded discussions to set world rules on how countries can better share data to realize seamless digital business. With this new governance framework in place, overseas companies can transfer their data to Certified Members of iBDG with a higher degree of trust.

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“Big Data Governance standards will certainly play a pivotal role in Hong Kong’s transition to become an international data hub. I salute to the Institute of Big Data Governance for taking the big bold step forward via today’s event,” said Nicholas W Yang, Secretary for Innovation and Technology of HKSAR Government.

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“Governments, businesses and citizens need to know who they can trust with their data, where their data will reside and how it will be managed and protected,” said Stephen Wong, Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong. “The launch of the iBDG Big Data Governance Principles and Independent Assessment Scheme marks a significant step forward in establishing trust for individuals in doing business with corporations, and for corporations in exchanging data.”

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“Today marks a significant milestone in establishing Hong Kong as a world-leading city and standard bearer for a very high level of data governance,” said Allen Yeung, Founding Chairman of iBDG. “We shall continue to build trust in order to facilitate data exchange across the Greater Bay Area, the EU and all parts of the world, which will establish Hong Kong as a global data hub.”

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iBDG Independent Assessment Scheme and Membership
Seven national and international standards, including: ISO/IEC 27001:2013; AICPA–Trust Services Principles Criteria 2017; Information Security Technology–Guidelines for Data Cross-Border Transfer Security Assessment (Draft for Public Comments), have been used as the basis for creating the iBDG Independent Assessment Scheme 1.0. Companies who are certified under the assessment scheme as iBDG Certified Members will have clearly demonstrated their capabilities and compliance with critical data protection and governance principles, and therefore be viewed as trusted parties for data exchange.

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In addition to iBDG’s current council members, leading companies in key business sectors are invited to join iBDG as Founding Corporate Members. These include FSI (Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing, China Ping An Insurance Oversea), Public Sector (CLP Power), Retails & Logistics (Fung Group), Advisory (Ernst and Young), ICT (Alibaba Cloud, AWS, China Unicom, Microsoft, OneAsia, SAP, SUNeVision and Tencent Cloud).

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Going forward, iBDG will continue to seek public review, including our founding corporate members to shape our iBDG Big Data Governance Principles and Independent Assessment Scheme to reflect the true industry relevancy.

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The iBDG Big Data Governance Principles 1.0 and Independent Assessment Scheme 1.0 will be used as the basis to recruit companies to join as Pledged Members (against our Principles) and Certified Members (against our Assessment Scheme).
Different membership types are as follows:

• General Corporate Member: a corporate member who is interested in learning more about big data governance;

• Pledged Corporate Member: a General Corporate Member who pledges to follow the “iBDG Big Data Governance Principles” published by IBDG;

• Certified Corporate Member: a Pledged Corporate Member who assessed and qualified by independent third-party auditor accredited by iBDG, based on assessment schemes established by iBDG;

• Individual Member: a person who is interested in participating in the big data governance industry.

Interested parties are encouraged to join iBDG as members. Please join us for more information and the application forms.