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The Government today (March 3) launched a three-month consultation on the establishment of the Communications Authority as a unified regulator for the electronic communications sector in Hong Kong.
The new authority would be responsible for enforcing the existing Telecommunications Ordinance and Broadcasting Ordinance. The existing statutory powers and functions of the Telecommunications Authority (TA) and Broadcasting Authority (BA) would be transferred to the authority.
Announcing the proposal at a luncheon meeting organised by the local information and communications technology organisations today, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph W P Wong, said technological convergence had been blurring the boundary between telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology. "It is only natural that convergence at the technological and market levels be matched by restructuring at the regulatory level," he said.
"This has been the international trend, from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in Canada, to the more recent establishment of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) in the UK and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in Australia.
"As Hong Kong is in the forefront of convergence, there is an urgent need to establish a unified regulator to enhance regulatory efficiency and further promote consumer benefits."
Having studied at length the overseas experience, the Government suggested adopting a staged approach in rationalising the regulatory regime.
In the first stage, the Government would set up the authority by merging the BA and TA. The authority would enforce the Broadcasting Ordinance and the Telecommunications Ordinance in place of these two regulators.
In the next stage, when the new unified regulator was in place, it would participate in reviewing and rationalising the two ordinances with the Administration.
Mr Wong explained that the advantage of the staged approach would be to enable the Government to set up the unified regulator as soon as possible to meet the challenge of convergence.
"Upon the inception of the authority, we will review the legislation pertinent to the regulation of broadcasting and telecommunications with special attention to those provisions related to competition and strengthening the protection of consumers' interests," Mr Wong said.
Regarding the composition of the Communications Authority, Mr Wong said that it would comprise seven members, including the non-official Chairman, four non-official members, one official member and the Director-General of the executive department as the ex-officio member.
The Government also proposed to merge the Office of the Telecommunications Authority and the Broadcasting Division of the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority to form the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) as the executive arm of the authority.
The OFCA will remain a government department operating as a trading fund. There will not be forced staff redundancy arising from the merger.
Subject to the outcome of the consultation, the Government plans to introduce the necessary legislation on the establishment of the new unified regulator into the Legislative Council by the end of the year.
The consultation document can be downloaded from the following website: www.citb.gov.hk/ctb. All comments should be sent to the Communications and Technology Branch of the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau, 2/F Murray Building, Garden Road, Hong Kong on or before June 2, 2006, by post, by fax to 2511 1458 or by email to kevinchoi@citb.gov.hk.
Ends/Friday, March 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:44
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