Hong Kong Ordinances

ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ORDINANCE - SECT 7

Presentation or retention of information in its original form

(1) Where a rule of law requires that certain information be presented or
retained in its original form, the requirement is satisfied by presenting or
retaining the information in the form of electronic  records if-

   (a)  there exists a reliable assurance as to the integrity of the
        information from the time when it was first generated in its final
        form; and

   (b)  where it is required that information be presented, the information is
        capable of being displayed in a legible form to the person to whom it
        is to be presented.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a)-

   (a)  the criterion for assessing the integrity of the information is
        whether the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart
        from the addition of any endorsement or any change which arises in the
        normal course of communication, storage or display; and

   (b)  the standard for reliability of the assurance is to be assessed having
        regard to the purpose for which the information was generated and all
        the other relevant circumstances.

(3) This section applies whether the requirement in subsection (1) is in the
form of an obligation or whether the rule of law merely provides consequences
for the information not being presented or retained in its original form.