Greater Bay Area eID Forum, organized by Smart City Consortium (SCC) and supported by the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong (CMA), Certizen Limited and Asia PKI Consortium, was held successfully on 5 June 2018 in Hong Kong. Numerous governments, business and technology professionals were invited to share and discuss the interconnection of electronic identity authentication system in the Greater Bay Area.
Governments worldwide are striving to promote the development of smart cities. In the future, information exchange between cities will be fully networked. How to solve the mutual recognition of capital, logistics and information flow under different regions and different legal systems becomes a new topic.
Under the "one country two systems" principle, Hong Kong is part of China on the one hand , it has different economic, legal and social systems from the Mainland on the other hand . Thus it is an ideal and typical demonstration to the world how to achieve online transaction interconnection.
As early as 2008, under the “Electronic Certificate Mutual Recognition Framework Agreement” of the “Closer Economic Partnership Agreement” (CEPA), the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Hong Kong Government in cooperation to the “Hong Kong Electronic Transactions Ordinance” successfully implemented the legal basis for cross-border information interconnection. In May 2016, Hong Kong and the Ministry of Public Security of Mainland China signed the “China-Hong Kong Electronic Identity Interconnection Strategic Framework Agreement”. In November 2016, the Guangdong and Hong Kong eID operators signed a cooperation agreement to jointly provide safer and more convenient electronic identity application. Mainland China has already issued eIDs to citizens. The issue of Hong Kong's eID has been submitted to Legislative Council for discussion and will be applied as soon as 2020.
At present, through the use of the National Identity Database by the Ministry of Public Security, combining the latest biometrics and eID technology, the identity of Mainland citizens is certified online. In Hong Kong, the government certification authority reviews and examine the public and private registration certificates as well as government websites in accordance with international standards, and issues government e-Cert. Mainland residents can check and verify the true identity of Hong Kong service providers via Government's website www.ecert.gov.hk. Through this both parties can enjoy Hong Kong and overseas services with confidence.
The above mechanism is in line with international trust standards and privacy regulations, helping individuals/enterprises of the two places to verify the authenticity of the cooperation units. In the event of legal dispute, respective law in the places can be enforced according to information provided, filling the legal gap between Guangdong and Hong Kong cross-border activities.
Certizen hopes to provide a set of legally-guaranteed electronic trading systems for Mainland China citizens and Hong Kong enterprises, promoting the electronicization of taxation in the region and reducing the requirement and risk of cross-border trade. At the same time use electronic signing to handle legally binding contracts between the two places, to create a government database centered on the Greater Bay Area with a hope of covering the countries along the “Belt and Road” in future. We are striving to promote an integrated, safe and healthy economic development in the region.
Special guests to the forum included Dr. Hon Elizabeth Quat, BBS, JP, Founder and Honorary President of SCC, Mr. Hon Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, SBS, JP, Mr. Hon Chan Kin-por, GBS, JP, Mr. Hon Chan Chun-ying, JP, Mr. Johnny Mok, Member of the Basic Law Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr. Dennis Ng, Vice President of CMA, Mr. Eric Yeung, President of Smart City Consortium, Mr. Gary Yeung, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Techture Limited, Chairman of eID Committee and Vice President of Smart City Consortium, Mr. Oliver Ng, Chairman of the Hong Kong Online Brokers Association and Mr. William Gee, Vice Chairman of Asia PKI Consortium.
