The Consumer Council, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data and the Office of the Telecommunications Authority jointly issued the Code on 17th June.
A spokesperson for the organisations said:
"In the course of business and provision of services, fixed and mobile service operators collect a large volume of customer personal data. The data, which include customers' telephone numbers, residential addresses and details of call history, may be sensitive in certain circumstances and of value if used for illicit purposes. It is therefore necessary to ensure that data relating to customers are properly protected from misuse."
The voluntary Code covers various issues including ethics and data privacy policy, data classification policy, access control policy, technical measures for protection of customer personal data, location security, staff security and transfer of customer personal data.
Apart from complying with the requirements of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, all fixed and mobile service operators are also obliged under the existing telecommunications licence conditions to protect their customer information and should not disclose the information without the consent of the customer for purposes other than those related to the provision of services.
A spokesman of Consumer Council urged:
"In a highly competitive market, consumers should exercise their right to choose the service operators who adopt the Code of Practice, and through their choice to ensure a high level of standard and put in place the security measure to protect customer privacy."
An ICAC spokesperson also warned that any staff of service operators who solicits or accepts advantages to release customers' information will be in breach of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
"As reputable and responsible fixed and mobile service operators, they should rigorously pursue effective security measures to protect customer information and report suspected corruption to the ICAC," the spokesperson added.