New regulation: GBA standard contract for the cross-border flow of personal information - will it make Hong Kong unique under PIPL?

On 13 December 2023, with the aim to promote the safe and orderly cross-border flow of personal information within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (ITIB) have jointly promulgated the Implementation Guidelines on the Standard Contract for Cross-boundary Flow of Personal Information Within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Mainland, Hong Kong) (the "Guidelines") with immediate effect, to which a template standard contract (the "GBA SCC") formulated jointly by CAC, ITIB and also the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong (PCPD) is attached.

The GBA SCC is a facilitation measure to implement the Memorandum of Understanding on Facilitating Cross-boundary Data Flow Within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area signed CAC and ITIB earlier on 29 June 2023.