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Following is a question by the Hon Audrey Eu Yuet-mee and a written reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council today (May 9):
Question:
It has been learnt that the Hongkong Post provides the Hongkong Post Circular Service for delivering advertisement circulars to commercial and residential letterboxes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of advertisement circulars delivered by the Hongkong Post in each of the past three financial years; and
(b) whether there is a mechanism for members of the public who do not want to receive such circulars to be exempted from receiving those circulars; if so, of the details; in each of the past three financial years, how many members of the public and residential estates were exempted from receiving such circulars, and how the mechanism deals with requests made by residents in residential estates or buildings without owners' organisations for exemption from receiving such circulars?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The number of advertisement circulars delivered through the Hongkong Post Circular Service (HKPCS) in each of the past three financial years was as follows:
Financial Year No. of Advertisement
Circulars Delivered
2003/04 82 million
2004/05 84 million
2005/06 98 million
The number of advertisement circulars delivered in the financial year of 2006/07 is not yet available.
(b) The Post Office has in the past acceded to requests from Owners' Corporations of individual buildings or housing estates to be removed from the Hong Kong Post Circular Service (HKPCS) distribution list.
The number of buildings or housing estates removed from the HKPCS distribution list following requests from the relevant Owners' Corporation was as follows:
Financial Year No. of Buildings / Housing
Estates Opting Out
2003/04 0
2004/05 2
2005/06 1
Following a recent review of the operation of HKPCS, the Post Office has concluded that the current arrangement regarding the removal from the HKPCS distribution list is not consistent with its role as a mail delivery service provider.
The Post Office considers that members of the public who do not wish to receive HKPCS items should be able to inform the senders directly of their wishes. Accordingly, the Post Office now advises any citizen who does not wish to receive HKPCS items to contact the relevant sender directly. To facilitate such an arrangement, the Post Office will launch a notice entitled: "Advice on Opt-out Arrangements" on May 9, 2007. Under this arrangement, senders of advertising circulars will be advised to include a reference to "Non-subscription to Circulars" in their materials. Such reference would include information on how residents may request senders not to send further materials to the addressees concerned.
As for the buildings or housing estates that have been removed from the HKPCS distribution list, the Post Office will contact them to explain the new arrangements.
Ends/Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:20
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