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The Government gazetted today (October 26) the commencement notice to implement the second phase of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance (UEMO), as well as the supporting Unsolicited Electronic Messages Regulation, on December 22, 2007.
"The second phase of the UEMO will establish rules for sending commercial electronic messages," a spokesperson for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said.
Under the second phase, senders of unsolicited electronic messages are required:
- to provide accurate sender information and unsubscribe facility in a message;
- not to withhold calling line identification when sending pre-recorded voice messages and fax;
- to honour the recipients' unsubscribe requests and not to send commercial electronic messages to any telephone/fax numbers listed on a do-not-call register (DNC) to be established by the Telecommunications Authority (TA).
"The TA will establish separate DNCs on fax, short message and pre-recorded message respectively. Members of the public can register their phone and fax numbers to notify all senders of commercial electronic messages that they do not wish to receive such message. Details of registration will be announced shortly," added the spokesperson.
The TA will issue enforcement notices to those parties contravening the provisions. Failure to comply with enforcement notices may be subject to a fine of $100,000 on first conviction, and up to $500,000 on second and subsequent conviction.
The Government also announced today the appointment of Mr Patrick Fung Pak-tung, S.C. and Mr Jat Sew-tong, S.C. to be the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages (Enforcement Notices) Appeal Board, with effect from December 22. The Appeal Board will be responsible for handling appeals against the enforcement notices issued by the TA. Other members of the Appeal Board include:
Dr Lee George Lam
Mr Law Chi-yuen
Professor Matthew Lee Kwok-on
Miss Winnie Lun Pong-hing
Dr Kevin Pun Kwok-hung
Dr Winnie Tang Shuk-ming
Mr Raymond Wong Kwai-sang
Ms Winnie Yeung Cheung-wah
Dr Royce Yuen Man-chun
The Government has organised a number of briefings to assist the industry to make the necessary preparation for the full implementation of the UEMO. A series of publicity events, including regional briefings for the representatives of the local community and broadcasting of TV and radio Announcements of Public Interest, will be held in the coming two months to facilitate the general public and other parties concerned to have a better understanding of the UEMO.
The UEMO was enacted in May 2007 for the purpose of regulating the sending of commercial electronic messages. All form of electronic messages with a Hong Kong link, including e-mail, fax, pre-recorded telephone calls and messages through short messaging services (SMS) or multimedia messaging services (MMS), are subject to regulation under the UEMO. The first phase of the Ordinance, which regulates the use of unscrupulous techniques to reach out to a large number of recipients and fraudulent activities related to the sending of multiple commercial electronic messages, came into effect from June this year.
Members of the public can visit OFTA's website (www.ofta.gov.hk) or call their hotline 2961 6333 for more information on the implementation of the Ordinance.
Ends/Friday, October 26, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:01
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