Welcome to the Hong Kong Q-Mark Schemes

The Hong Kong Q-Mark Council (in short “the Council”) is committed to protecting the privacy of Internet users. As part of the normal operation of this website, we collect information from you and we intend to give you as much control as possible over your personal information. This Privacy Policy Statement describes the information we collect about you and the ways we may use that information.

Data Collection and Use

To maintain a high standard of service to you, personal data may be collected from you on a voluntary basis for some particular purposes or services as set out herein below. Personal data including names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses etc. are used by us for the purposes stated on the respective screens, such as¹ :

for processing Q-Mark enquiries, applications and activities
for statistical or research purposes e.g. opinion survey²
for distribution of publications, promotional and research materials
for marketing and promotion of the Q-Mark's services
for following up with general enquiries, comments and suggestions
for fulfilling any other purposes relating thereto

Personal Data information that you provide will not be used for other purposes without your written consent unless such use is permitted or required by law. If at any time you would like us to cease sending you any materials for marketing and promotion of the Council’s services, please contact the Council and we will then ensure that you will not be included in future direct marketing promotions as statutorily require.³

In general, personal data provided by you are retained for as long as the purposes for which such data were collected continuously. Data are then destroyed unless their retention is required to satisfy legal or regulatory requirements.⁴

Data Security

The Council takes necessary measures⁵ to ensure that information pertaining to personal data that you provide in this website is stored in a secure environment and accessed only by authorised persons. The Council however gives no warranty against hacking by third parties or any unauthorised access to the data by anyone or against any attack by computer viruses.

Restriction on the Use of Materials

The contents of this website, including designs, photographs, illustrations and texts, are under the copyright laws of the HKSAR and overseas countries. They may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system without the Council's prior written consent.

By sending promotional information to the Council’s website, you are giving us the right to display such information on our website and to use such information for the specified purposes, including promotional and marketing initiatives.

Any promotional information displayed in this website should not be regarded as an offer or solicitation to sell any product or services concerned in any country to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such invitation or solicitation in such country.

While you may access the promotional materials contained in this website only for your personal use, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, sell, display, transmit and/or distribute creative or derivative works of this website or exploit the content of this website for commercial or public purposes [without the Council’s prior written approval]. The Council shall retain all propriety rights on its website.

You may not use this website for any purpose which is unlawful, abusive, libelous, obscene or threatening.

Use of Cookies

Cookies are commonly used devices for internal navigation and programming to facilitate transmission and provide useful features. When you browse this website, cookies will be stored in your computer's hard drive. In order to improve our services, we record the domain name of your computer and track the pages you visit thus enabling us to compile statistics on the number of visitors to and the usage of our website regarding traffic, pages visited and time spent. We will not collect any personal data from you under this circumstance. You have a choice not to accept the cookies, but if you do, certain features, e.g. banner display or maintenance of continuity during a session, may not be available for browsing.

Hyperlink Policy

A.	Hyperlinks to the Council's Website If you wish to create hyperlinks to the Council's website, you are requested to obtain the prior written approval of the Council by writing to: The Hong Kong Q-Mark Council, Federation of Hong Kong Industries, 31/F, Billion Plaza, 8 Cheung Yue Street, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon or by sending an email to: qmd@fhki.org.hk. The Council will assess each request on a case-by-case basis and has the sole discretion to determine the way in which the hyperlink is to be structured. Any hyperlinks to the Council's website will not allow access to the personal data of its users. While the Council is not obliged to establish a reciprocal link to your website, the Council is not responsible for the setup of any hyperlink from a third party website to that of the Council. These hyperlinks do not in any case indicate our endorsement or sponsorship of, or affiliation with these websites and the Council is not a party to any contractual arrangement entered into between you and the provider of each of these websites. Henceforth, the Council is not liable for any loss or damage incurred by you or any third party in connection with any such links.

B.	Hyperlinks to Third Party Websites The Council's website, in particular links to websites of external parties are for information and convenience purposes only. If you will visit other websites linked to this website, it is recommended that you investigate the terms or privacy policy of all websites you visit. The Council is not responsible for the contents or any of the information of these websites. The inclusion of these links do not in any case indicate our endorsement or sponsorship of, or affiliation with these websites and the Council is not a party to any contractual arrangement entered into between you and the provider of each of these websites. Henceforth, the Council is not liable for any loss or damage incurred by you or any third party in connection with any such links.

Access and Correction

Under the provisions of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, you have the rights (i) to request access to your personal data information retained by us or make correction thereof; (ii) to ascertain the Council's policies and practices in relation to personal data; and (iii) to be informed of the kind of personal data held by the Council⁶. If you wish to do so, please write to: The Hong Kong Q-Mark Council, Federation of Hong Kong Industries, 31/F, Billion Plaza, 8 Cheung Yue Street, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon. A reasonable fee for processing a data access request may be charged.

No Warranties

The Council intends to provide the information and materials in this website on an "as is" basis without giving warranty of any kind, either express or implied. In particular, no warranty as to non-infringement, security, accuracy and fitness for a purpose is given in connection with such information and materials.

Whilst all practical steps have been taken to ensure that personal data provided by you are protected against unauthorized or accidental access, processing, erasure or other use⁷, due to the nature of Internet, the Council is not liable in any way for direct, indirect, special or consequential damages arising out of the use of this website or transmission of email messages over the Internet to or from the Council.

Chinese Version

If there is any discrepancy or conflict between the Chinese and the English versions of this Statement, the English version shall prevail.

Important:

By accessing this website and any of its pages, you are agreeing to the terms set out herein. The Council reserves the right to amend its prevailing data protection and privacy policy at any time and will place such amendments on this website.

The list of purposes should be an exhaustive list so as to ensure that any Internet user being the subject of data ("the data subject") is explicitly informed of all the purposes for which the data are to be used on or before collecting the data in compliance with the Data Protection Principles 1(3)(b)(i)(A) and 5(C) of Schedule 1 to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) ("the Ordinance").

Although personal data can be collected for statistical or research purpose, it is advisable that the results of the research are not to be made available in a form which identifies the data subject.

Under s.34 of the Ordinance, a data user who uses the data for direct marketing purposes shall on the first use of those data inform the data subject that the data user is required, without charge to the data subject, to cease to use those data if the data subject so requests.

Data Protection Principle 2(2) of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance provides that personal data shall not be kept longer than is necessary for the fulfillment of the purpose for which the data are or are to be used.

Please note that necessary measures to protect the data against unauthorized or accidental access or processing should take into account the following:-

(a)	the kind of data and the harm that could result if any of those things should occur;
(b)	the physical location where the data are stored;
(c)	any security measures incorporated (whether by automated means or otherwise) into any equipment in which the data are stored;
(d)	any measures taken for ensuring the integrity, prudence and competence of persons having access to the data; and
(e)	any measures taken for ensuring the secure transmission of the data. [Data Protection Principle 4 of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance]

A data user is required to inform the data subjects of these rights either explicitly or by all practicable steps under Data Protection Principles 1(3)(b)(ii)(A) and 5 of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance.

As required by Data Protection Principle 4 of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance.