*********************************************************

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

The Legislative Council Panel on Financial Affairs invites members of the public and interested organizations to express their views on the Report of the Panel of Inquiry on Penny Stocks Incident, published on September 10, 2002 by the Government.

The Panel has held four meetings on July 31, September 16, September 20 and October 8 this year to discuss issues relating to the Penny Stocks Incident and the aforesaid Report. At these meetings, Members received comments of relevant parties, including the Government, the Securities and Futures Commission, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and trade associations of the securities industry, on the Report and other related issues. The Panel will further deliberate on the Penny Stocks Incident and views of any interested parties/individuals will be taken into consideration in the course of the deliberation.

The electronic copy of the Report is available on the Government's web site at http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/. Interested parties are invited to submit their views on the Report in writing to the Clerk to the Panel on or before October 30, 2002 (Wednesday). They are also requested to indicate whether they would wish to make oral representations to the Panel at its meeting(s). Submissions received will be made available to the media and the public and uploaded onto the web site of the Council unless advised otherwise.

The relevant address, fax and telephone numbers, and e-mail address are as follows:

Address : Clerk to Panel on Financial Affairs

Legislative Council Secretariat

3/F Citibank Tower

3 Garden Road

Central

Hong Kong

Fax No. : 2121 0420

Telephone No. : 2869 9125 or 2525 3331

E-mail address : pmyau@legco.gov.hk

End/Wednesday, October 16, 2002

NNNN