************************************************
In response to media enquiries concerning the examination of the sales brochure by the Sales of First-hand Residential Properties Authority ("SRPA"), and the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance, the SRPA's responses today (April 26) are as follows:
The SRPA has started accepting from vendors sales brochures, price lists and documents concerning the sales arrangements which comply with the relevant requirements under the Ordinance since April 15, 2013. As at 6.30pm yesterday (April 25), the SRPA has received the sales brochures of two first-hand residential developments, as well as one set of price list and sales arrangements.
According to the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance ("the Ordinance"), for at least a period of 7 days before the date of sale and on a date of sale, the vendor must make available the sales brochure. Also, the vendor must make available the price list and the documents containing the sales arrangements for at least a period of 3 days before the date of sale and on a date of sale. As far as sales brochure is concerned, sales brochure should comply with the relevant requirements under the Ordinance. If the vendor has breached any of the aforesaid requirements, the Ordinance has stipulated the penalties, which include fine and imprisonment. It is not a penalty under the Ordinance or the legislative intent to impose stoppage of sale for non-compliance with the requirements under the Ordinance. It is not a loophole that the Ordinance has not empowered the SRPA to impose stoppage of sale as a penalty for breaches of the aforesaid requirements.
It is the vendor's responsibility to ensure their sales brochures, prices lists, advertisements and the relevant documents containing the sales arrangements comply with the requirements of the Ordinance. The SRPA will not vet the sales brochures, prices lists, advertisements and the relevant documents containing the sales arrangements before they are made available.
The SRPA will, as soon as practicable, examine the sales brochure and price list upon receipt. If possible breaches are identified, the SRPA will conduct investigation. If after investigation, the SRPA considers that the vendor may have breached the requirements of the Ordinance, after considering all relevant factors, the SRPA will consider referring the case to the Department of Justice for consideration of prosecution. If the Department of Justice has decided to take prosecution action, it will be for the Court, not the SRPA, to adjudicate whether the vendor has breached the requirements of the Ordinance. However, if the nature of the possible breaches is a serious one, and that the case in question may bring substantial loss to the prospective purchasers, for the sake of consumer protection, the SRPA will, without prejudice to the legal proceedings, disclose the cases of possible breaches as soon as possible so that prospective purchasers could act cautiously.
The SRPA has conducted preliminary examination of the two sales brochures and the set of price list and sales arrangements submitted by vendors. As far as the sales brochures are concerned, the SRPA considers that they have basically met the requirements under the Ordinance, though there are rooms for improvement. For example, the internal and external dimensions of residential properties could be more comprehensively set out in the floor plans of the residential properties. As for information concerning fittings, finishes and appliances, there is no need to provide the brand name of the fittings inside the bathroom and kitchen. That said, the situation is not serious.
The preliminary view of SRPA is that the price list and documents concerning sales arrangements which it have received have complied with the requirements of the Ordinance.
As the Ordinance will be implemented on April 29, the SRPA has written to the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong (REDA) to remind the trade the points to which they should pay extra attention, including the aforesaid points, in preparing the sales brochure. This serves to help the trade to comply with the requirements of the Ordinance.
In addition, the SRPA has, after the issuance of some 80 Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (FAQs) (http://www.thb.gov.hk/eng/policy/housing/policy/consultation/2011/First-hand_Sales_Ordinance_FAQ.pdf) to the stakeholders on April 11, issued a few more FAQs (http://www.thb.gov.hk/eng/policy/housing/policy/consultation/2011/First-hand_Sales_Ordinance_FAQ2.pdf) on April 24. The FAQs issued on April 24 have covered the areas of concerns raised by REDA at the meeting on April 17. Those FAQs have been uploaded onto the website of the Transport and Housing Bureau. The SRPA will continue to maintain dialogue with REDA on the Ordinance.
In accordance with the Ordinance, after the vendor has made available the sales brochure and price list to the public, the SRPA or the Sales of First-hand Residential Properties Electronic Platform, the vendor can revise those documents as necessary. The SRPA will closely monitor the revised sales brochures of the two developments as to whether revisions have been made according to SRPA's advice, and decide the follow-up action. After the commencement of the Ordinance, the SRPA will examine those documents and carry out investigations if possible breaches are found.
When an examined and revised sales brochure has been made available to the public, as long as the original version and the examined and revised version have been made available without interruption for a period of at least 7 days before the commencement of the sale of the development, there is no need for the development to wait for another 7 days after the making available of the examined and revised sales brochure before it could be put up for sale. Such arrangements have been set out in the FAQs issued to stakeholders on April 11.
Those provisions of the Ordinance which concern the sales brochures, price lists, show flats, disclosure of transaction information, advertisements and sales arrangement, will come into effect on April 29. The SRPA will start enforcing the Ordinance on the same date.
SRPA takes note of the media's concern that the implementation of the Ordinance may affect the reporting work of the media. Under Part 4 of the Ordinance, it is an offence if any person makes misrepresentation, or disseminates false or misleading information. The intent of the Ordinance is not to target the media, but to regulate the sales of first-hand residential properties, particularly to prohibit any sale by misrepresentation and dissemination of false or misleading information, in order to protect the interest of first-hand residential properties purchasers. The implementation of the Ordinance will not affect the media in reporting the market situation concerning the sales of first-hand residential properties.
Defence provisions are provided for in Part 5 of the Ordinance, which includes defences for offences in relation to false or misleading information via the issue or reproduction of the information, a re-transmission of or a live broadcast of the information. The defence provisions were drafted with reference to the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap.571). The provisions will not narrow press freedom.
On offences relating to publishing false or misleading advertisement, making misrepresentation, dissemination of false or misleading information, the prosecution is required to prove that the concerned person commits the act to his knowledge that material fact is false or misleading, or the person recklessly commits the act with his knowledge, and the information is likely to induce another person to purchase any residential properties that are subject to the regulation of the Oridnance. The prosecution needs to produce evidence to prove that the concerned person intentionally report on the false or misleading information or recklessly disregard whether the information is false or misleading before reporting.
Ends/Friday, April 26, 2013
Issued at HKT 21:42
NNNN