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The Government published today (Monday) a policy statement to set out the objectives of the competition policy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and to provide pointers for observance.

The Secretary for Trade and Industry, Mr Chau Tak Hay, said that competition was important as a means to foster free trade and enhance economic efficiency, which also included consumer welfare in this context.

"To ensure maximum adherence to this policy across the economy, the Government needs to set out in clear and transparent terms what the policy entails. The policy statement provides advice on the 'dos' and 'don'ts' under this policy.

"Certain principles, such as adherence to the free market mechanism and maintaining a level-playing field to foster market accessibility and contestability, would be familiar to many.

"These principles were believed to be conducive to providing a healthy environment to encourage fair play," he said.

"On the other hand, the policy statement sets out, for illustrative purpose, some business practices which may warrant more thorough examination, such as arrangements among competitors to fix prices or to collude in tendering exercises.

"The Government would wish to discourage such practices should they have the effect of limiting economic efficiency or free trade to the detriment of the HKSAR's overall interest," he added.

The Policy Statement will be observed by all government units in the initial stage. On an incremental basis, the Government will encourage other public sector entities to adhere to the policy.

"The Consumer Council would be asked to approach individual sectors separately to encourage them to adopt sector-specific codes of practice which were conducive to promoting competition, consistent with the framework set out in the policy statement", Mr Chau said.

Last November, the Government reaffirmed its intention to promote competition in a more comprehensive manner.

The policy statement is the first clear manifestation of the Government's intentions under the competition policy.

It will provide a basis against which the Competition Policy Advisory Group, chaired by the Financial Secretary, will assess whether more competition can or should be introduced within the Government and possibly other sectors with the ultimate objective of promoting economic efficiency and free trade.

It will also alert the private sector to be more competition-conscious.

Copies of the policy statement are available from the Trade and Industry Bureau .

End/Monday, May 25, 1998

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