Government Directory Service (GDS) was launched in November 2001. The GDS provides the contact information of bureaux and departments in electronic form, which is similar to that available in the then paper-based government telephone directory. An intranet website is set up for government staff to search this information in an online manner. The information there is kept up to date by the respective bureaux and departments.

The GDS also aims to facilitate the deployment of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology in Government. It can serve as a PKI repository of government officers, and provide an officer-based one-stop-shop channel for Government's certificate searching without switching from one Certification Authority (CA) to another.

On top of the GDS infrastructure, the Administration Wing, Chief Secretary for Administration's Office, provides a Government Telephone Directory (GTD) Website (http://www.directory.gov.hk) service with sophisticated searching facilities for the public starting from March 2002. Public can use this web site to search for the contact information of public officers and hotlines of bureaux, departments and related organizations such as HKMA, SFC, etc.