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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting this Wednesday (January 6) at 11am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on establishing a comprehensive consumer protection regime.
The motion, to be moved by Hon Starry Lee, states: " That, incidents of traders using misleading, deceptive, high-pressure, intimidating, harassing or other unfair means to market products or services are common in recent years, undermining the interests of consumers, and many people consider that consumer protection in Hong Kong is inadequate; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to establish a comprehensive consumer protection regime, including:
(a) to require a cooling-off period be provided for agreements involving membership, package tickets and other pre-paid services to allow consumers to terminate such agreements within a specified period after signing an agreement to purchase the relevant goods or services without having to pay any fees or charges;
(b) to require traders to issue in writing the terms and conditions within a specified period for any service agreement reached verbally through on-street promotion or over the telephone, and that the agreement will only be effective upon a signed confirmation by the consumer;
(c) to monitor effectively the services provided by telecommunications service operators and those services provided by a third party through such operators, such as mobile messages and content services, etc. so as to ensure that the marketing practices, terms and conditions of services and charges are transparent and fair;
(d) to extend the scope of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance to include person-to-person commercial telemarketing calls, and require the caller to stop all marketing activities immediately upon a roaming signal coming from the telephone of the receiver;
(e) to introduce legislative amendments to enhance the regulation of multi-level marketing;
(f) to empower the Consumer Council to act as the proctor for consumers whose interests are undermined to initiate court proceedings to seek compensation from unscrupulous traders when required; and
(g) to formulate a comprehensive Consumer Interests Protection Ordinance to plug the loopholes arising from the existing fragmented and discordant legislation, and to fully regulate unfair trade practices involving goods and services; and at the same time, in order to tie in with the implementation of the Consumer Interests Protection Ordinance, to confer administrative and law enforcement powers under the Ordinance to the Consumer Council, or establish the post of consumer protection commissioner to undertake the relevant administrative and law enforcement work."
Hon Wong Kwok-hing, Dr Hon Samson Tam, Hon Fred Li and Hon Vincent Fang will move separate amendments to Hon Starry Lee's motion.
Members will also debate a motion on promoting the sports development in Hong Kong. The motion, to be moved by Hon Ip Kwok-him, states: "That the East Asian Games has been successfully completed, and with the support of the community as well as the strenuous effort of the athletes, Hong Kong players have achieved outstanding performance and won high praise; in order to further enhance the standard of local sports and promote the sports development in Hong Kong, this Council urges the Government to:
(a) review the existing scoring mechanism for the elite training programmes, and actively consider including team sports with development potentials in such programmes;
(b) encourage the Hong Kong Jockey Club to put in more resources to support the development of local football;
(c) examine the effectiveness of the various existing funding schemes, and increase the funding amounts according to actual needs;
(d) improve the hardware facilities for various sports activities and expeditiously carry out the multi-purpose stadium complex project in the Kai Tak Development Area, so as to provide better support for sports development;
(e) formulate a specific policy to improve the treatment of athletes and their career development after retirement;
(f) draw reference from the Mainland and overseas experience to encourage the business sector to take part in the funding of sports;
(g) step up effort in motivating schools, the general public and enterprises to attach importance to sports, promote sports for all, and create a competition atmosphere among district sports teams, so as to increase public participation and community cohesion;
(h) strengthen collaboration and exchanges with the Mainland to enhance the standard of local sports; and
(i) actively consider bidding to host the 18th Asian Games in 2019."
Hon Lee Wing-tat, Hon Tanya Chan, Dr Hon Lam Tai-fai and Hon Paul Chan and will move separate amendments to Hon Ip Kwok-him's motion.
Hon Miriam Lau will move a motion under the Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure to take note of the Report No. 2/09-10 of the House Committee laid on the table of the Council on January 6, 2010 in relation to the Dumping at Sea (Exemption) (Amendment) Order 2009.
Meanwhile, the Secretary for the Environment will move a resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to amend the Energy Efficiency (Labelling of Products) Ordinance (Amendment of Schedules) Order 2009, which laid on the table of the Council on November 4, 2009.
On bills, Members will resume Second Reading on the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2009. If the bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will then go through the Committee Stage and be read the third time.
During the meeting, Members will ask the Government 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 (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/Monday, January 4, 2010
Issued at HKT 18:36
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