ENG-2000 — Page 436

COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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Hongkong Post chose Care from the Heart as the theme for developing its service culture in 1998. To sustain this customer service culture and a spirit of teamwork in Hongkong Post, various activities were conducted during the year to reinforce the momentum of service improvement and to maintain staff alertness in providing quality service to customers.

Hongkong Post had organised a special programme for its customers, philatelists, staff members and Internet surfers to celebrate the new millennium. A wide selection of commemorative postal products, including a 22-karat gold stamp, the first gold stamp ever issued by Hongkong Post, was introduced in the run-up to the millennium.

A comprehensive review of some 1 750 mail delivery beats was conducted to improve service standards and productivity, and the Internet tracking service was extended to parcels and other categories of mail.

To facilitate the development of electronic commerce in Hong Kong, Hongkong Post established the first public and legally recognised CA and launched its certification service on January 31. The establishment of the Hongkong Post CA is the cornerstone of the local Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) development in Hong Kong. The Hongkong Post CA provides a secure environment for the conduct of electronic transactions over open networks. With the use of digital certificates issued by the Hongkong Post CA, parties to electronic transactions can authenticate the identity of other parties involved, ensure the integrity and confidentiality of information exchanged in the transactions, and prevent commitments made from being repudiated.

In May, Hongkong Post and Pacific Century CyberWorks jointly launched a secure digital message delivery service, known as Websenger, which offers multi-level electronic messaging security and provides users with a high level of control and privacy in message delivery over the Internet. To promote the wider use of digital certificates in the community, Hongkong Post further developed its CA service to support Internet banking services, Internet stock trading, mobile commerce and the Government's Electronic Service Delivery Scheme.

To enhance public understanding of the security issues in e-commerce and the use of digital certificates, Hongkong Post set up the e-Cert Gallery at the General Post Office in January and opened a promotion counter at the DigiHall 21 of the Hong Kong Productivity Council in February. During the year, Hongkong Post participated in 103 IT expositions to promote the Hongkong Post CA service and to raise public awareness of Internet security.

In the international arena, Hongkong Post continued to serve as one of the five member postal administrations in the Policy Management Authority of the Advanced Electronic Services Group of the Universal Postal Union. The authority's aim is to develop and maintain consistent certification policy for the development of PKI-based Global Postal Trust Services. Hongkong Post also signed Memoranda of Understanding with overseas certification authorities, including ViaCode of the United Kingdom, ID Safe of Singapore and DigiCert of Malaysia in September. These memoranda provide a framework of co-operation for exploring cross-certification arrangements. Such co-operation would promote cross-border e-commerce and enhance Hong Kong's position as a leading e-commerce hub.