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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) has issued the Guidance Note on the Use of Internet for Insurance Activities (GN) to authorized persons including insurers and insurance brokers.

The GN applies to the Internet insurance activities of those authorized persons to the extent that such activities fall within the jurisdiction of Hong Kong. It mainly deals with issues such as the identity of service providers, system security, data integrity, privacy of client information, online sale of insurance products and the use of third party websites.

It also sets out examples on how the Insurance Authority (IA) will determine whether an Internet insurance activity conducted from outside of Hong Kong falls within the ambit of the Insurance Companies Ordinance.

The Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Benjamin Tang, said today (January 31) that with the Internet being its prime driver, e-commerce would radically transform the way business is done in the 21st century.

"As more and more insurance websites are emerging in the local market, the IA has formulated the guidelines on the use of Internet to conduct business by insurance service providers," he said.

"The GN is in line with those promulgated by local and international financial regulators. It is essential to protect the interests of the insuring public who may not have any insurance knowledge but purchase insurance products over the Internet without adequate advice or assistance of insurance intermediaries," Mr Tang explained.

"It is a global trend for insurance companies to expand and enhance their services by marketing and selling their products online. The GN aims at better protecting the insuring public and ensuring the healthy development of the industry in the new information technology era," Mr Tang added.

With the rapid evolvement of e-commerce on the superhighway of Internet technology, Mr Tang said that the IA would regularly review and revise the GN in the light of market development and the global trend in Internet insurance.

The GN is available at the OCI's Office at 21/F, Queensway Government Offices, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong. It can also be downloaded from the OCI's homepage at http://www.info.gov.hk/oci.

End/Wednesday, January 31, 2001

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