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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting this Wednesday (July 4) at 11am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on strengthening the regulation of unscrupulous business practices in pay television, telecommunications and internet services.
The motion, to be moved by Dr Hon Yeung Sum, states: "That, as the complaints about unscrupulous business practices in pay television, telecommunications and internet services have been on the rise in recent years, this Council urges the Government to review the existing mechanism, strengthen the regulation of the business practices of providers of such services, examine the extension of section 7M of the Telecommunications Ordinance, which regulates misleading or deceptive conduct of telecommunications operators, to cover pay television, and introduce a cooling-off period and standard terms in the contracts, so as to safeguard the rights and interests of consumers."
Hon Wong Kwok-hing and Hon Tsang Yok-sing will move separate amendments to Dr Hon Yeung Sum's motion.
Members will also debate a motion on developing environmental industries to create job opportunities. The motion, to be proposed by Hon Kwong Chi-kin, says: "That, as the increasing amount of waste in Hong Kong has exerted heavy pressure on landfills and the over-exploitation of global resources has led to tight supply of certain resources, such objective conditions have created opportunities for the development of environmental industries; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to formulate a comprehensive policy on environmental industries, which includes:
(a) expeditiously implementing the Producer Responsibility Scheme to develop the work processes and economic activities relating to the recovery, disassembling, and recycling and reuse of resources;
(b) strengthening publicity and education to enhance public awareness of waste separation, so as to increase the types and amount of recovered waste;
(c) comprehensively implementing separation and recovery of wet and dry waste so as to pave the way for the recycling and reuse of commercial and domestic food waste; for example, the Government procures fertilisers converted from locally recovered food waste for use on plants grown in gardens and on roadsides;
(d) retaining and setting up recovery stations and complementary facilities for wet and dry waste in various districts to facilitate the waste collectors' midway collection, sorting and transportation of waste;
(e) formulating the Government's green procurement policy and requiring all departments and contractors to comply with it, so as to provide a steady outlet for green products and services; and implementing a green certification system for such products and services to facilitate the Government, private organisations and the public to identify those green products and services that meet the certification requirements when making procurement;
(f) subsidising the research and development of environmental industries, upgrading the technology, as well as improving the production environment of such industries, and building up a professional image for the industries, so as to attract more people to take up the related work; and
(g) assisting social enterprises to participate in those environmental industries with prospects,
thereby promoting the economic development of environmental industries and creating related job opportunities."
Hon Choy So-yuk, Hon Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung and Hon Audrey Eu will move separate amendments to Hon Kwong Chi-kin's motion.
On bills, the Second Reading debates of the Supplementary Appropriation (2006-2007) Bill and the the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Declaration of Morningside College and S. H. Ho College as Constituent Colleges) Bill will resume. If the Bills are supported by Members and receive their Second Readings, they will then go through the Committee Stage and be read the third time.
During the meeting, Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the Legislative Council InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the Legislative Council web site (http://www.legco.gov.hk).
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Legislative Council Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the audio webcast system on the Legislative Council homepage.
Ends/Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:42
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