CONSUMER
COUNCIL
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I. VISION
To be the trusted voice in striving for consumer betterment towards safe and sustainable consumption in a fair and just market.
II. MISSION
The Council is committed to enhancing consumer welfare and empowering consumers to protect themselves. Consumers include consumers of goods and services and purchasers, mortgagors and lessees of immovable property.
it acts as advocate for consumer interests;
it facilitates constructive discussion and promulgation of pro-consumer policies;
it sees to empower consumers to help themselves.
This is to be achieved through initiatives directed at the consumers; the private sector; and networking with other stakeholders, such as the media and government.
III. CORE VALUES
IV. FUNCTIONS
The Consumer Council Ordinance prescribes the following functions for the Council:-
collecting, receiving and disseminating information concerning goods and services and immovable property;
receiving and examining complaints and giving advice to consumers of goods and services and purchasers, mortgagors and lessees of immovable property;
taking such action as it thinks justified by information in its possession, including tendering advice to the Government or to any public officer;
encouraging businesses and professional associations to establish codes of practice to regulate the activities of their members; and
undertaking such other functions as the Council
may adopt with the prior approval of the Chief Executive in
Council.
V. MAIN DUTIES
(i) Forestalling & Mediating Disputes between Consumers and Business
Consumer satisfaction is important to the marketplace. The Council offers a convenient service to consumers in making enquiries and lodging complaints, providing them with pre-shopping advice and help mediate disputes as they occur. Our consumer hotline (tel no.: 29292222) and our 7 Consumer Advice Centres (CACs) form an extensive network in offering convenient services to consumers.
Council staff mediates the consumer disputes to help resolve complaints with pursuable grounds.
Mediating Consumer Complaints: In 2009/10,
the Council helped solve 75.2% of cases with pursuable grounds. A
total of 31,207 complaints with 1,826 coming from tourists were
received. CACs & Hotline Centre received 119,745 consumer
enquiries. If traders refused to co-operate in resolving
justifiable complaint cases, consumers may seek redress at the
Small Claims Tribunal and the Council will tender advice where
appropriate.
Exposing malpractices of traders: For dishonest traders who do not take the Council's advice and continually indulge in malpractices, the Council may convene a press conference to name them.
Number of consumer
complaints from
2000/01 to 2009/10
(ii) Ensuring Product Quality and Safety
The Council conducts tests on consumer products to provide unbiased comparative test results to help consumers make rational choices, to alert them to product hazards and to induce improvements in product quality and safety.
How this is done?
There are three different types of tests:
Tests initiated and solely conducted with the
Council's own resources. Most of these tests are conducted by
accredited and independent laboratories in Hong Kong. In case local
testing facilitates do not meet the Council's requirements,
appropriate overseas laboratories will be commissioned.
The Council is a member of the International Consumer Research and
Testing (ICRT). It benefits from ICRT's joint
tests through which utilization of resources could be maximized and
experience shared.
Tests conducted in cooperation with various local
government/statutory organizations or overseas consumer
associations.
Product testing: In
2009/10, 48 product testing reports and 27 study reports were
published in Council's CHOICE magazine (e.g., dehumidifiers,
Chinese cold dishes and toilet rolls.)
Product Study
Reports: They are reports of in-depth studies on a wide range
of consumer products to provide consumer information and, in some
cases, to verify product claims (e.g., medicine labelling, LCD TVs,
household paints, etc.)
International Exchange
of Hazardous Product Information:The Council pays special
attention to the movement of unsafe products into Hong Kong and
will request suppliers to recall any such products. Through
communication with other consumer organisations and foreign
authorities, the Council receives a constant flow of information
about unsafe products found outside Hong Kong.
(iii) Collecting Market Information on Services and Goods
Hong Kong has developed into a service-oriented economy and consumers need more information on a wide range of services. We conduct opinion surveys, market surveys and price surveys to collect information on services for the benefit of consumers.
(iv) Promoting Sustainable Consumption
Consumers as ultimate users can exert influence in the sustainable consumption and production equation, although the latter is a much stronger party. The Council promotes and supports sustainable consumption through comparative product testing and dissemination of information which enable consumers to make informed choices and to help conserve natural resources and waste reduction.
(v) Advocating Best Practice and Competition in the Marketplace
In a market-based economy such as Hong Kong, the Council has a role to play in ensuring that best practice and competition in the marketplace bring desired effects of consumer satisfaction and economic efficiency, thereby benefiting consumer welfare - with lower prices, more choices and higher quality of products and services.
The Council undertakes research and study on various aspects of marketplace behaviour to identify matters of concern to consumers as well as to encourage responsible trade practices and fair competition.
Encouraging responsible trade
practices:
The Council worked closely with the beauty industry in promoting
the Beauty Industry Code of Practice. In the end of 2007, the Code
was incorporated into the industry manual of professional operation
and business management as part of the industry initiative to
provide the best beauty service.
Responding to Consultations:
The Council responds to consultation conducted by government or other public bodies on consumer-related issues, for examples, Travel Industry Compensation Fund, Deposit Protection Scheme, Regulation on Lifts and Escalators and Licensing of Airline Services.
(vi) Disseminating Consumer Information
As consumers become better informed, they will be better able to safeguard their interests against undesirable trade practices and unsafe goods and services, to exercise rational choices, and to contribute to sustainable consumption.
(vii) Empowering Consumer through Education
Consumer education forms an integral part of the consumer empowerment objective of the Council. The Council has provided institutional support to other organisations and educational institutes to enable them to run their own consumer education programmes. Tailor-made activities are designed to cater for three major target groups - namely young people, senior citizens and new immigrants.
Enhancing youth
awareness in consumer rights:
Consumer Culture Study Award is an annual event jointly organised
with the Education Bureau for local secondary schools. Participants
are to study a particular aspect of our local consumer culture,
exploring consumer attitudes, values and behaviours in Hong Kong.
In 2009/10, 109 schools with more than 966 teams participating in
the event.
Besides, Youth Development Service Scheme aims to provide an
opportunity for the trained youth volunteer leaders learning more
about consumer issues through involvement in the Council's
activities.
Education Programmes for the vulnerable
groups:
For senior citizens, programmes aim to educate them on: health and safety concerns in selecting and consuming products and services; precautions from falling prey to consumer traps; etc
For new immigrants, regular programmes are developed
for the new comers from the Mainland to familarise themselves with
local consumer protection measures.
Training the
trainers:
Including community involvement service scheme for women and
third aged volunteers, training programmes for teachers on consumer
education, training seminar for Technology and Living teachers, and
staff training for school teachers.
Consumer Council
Resource Centre:
Located in Tsimshatsui, the Centre's facilities include a Consumer
Advice Centre, an exhibition-cum-lecture hall, and a resource
library. Teaching resources development includes curriculum
resource package on reflections on the learning and teaching
strategies of project learning, education resources kit on
project-based learning for PSHE at secondary level, DVD-ROM of
winning reports of the Consumer Culture Study Award, teaching kits
on labeling and advertising and consumer education resource kit for
new immigrants.
(viii) Representing the Consumer Voice and Networking
Everyone is a consumer. Our efforts to promote consumer interests will become more effective when we work closely with other partners and stakeholders locally and overseas.
Locally:
We maintain close liaison with the Government through the Commerce and Economic Development
Bureau , which oversees consumer protection and competition
policy. Besides, the Council liaises with over 10 other bureaux and
30 Government departments, facilitating the Council's work in
addressing specific consumer issues that fall within their purview.
Council's representatives serve about 56 public advisory committees
and boards of regulatory or statutory bodies.
Liaison with Mainland counterparts:
Close liaison with consumers associations and related bodies from the Mainland (over 3,200 consumer associations in the whole country) is maintained through exchange of information, referral of complaints, receiving their delegations or providing training to their staff.
Memoranda of Cooperation have been signed with consumer associations in major cities/provinces in the Mainland, including Beijing, Guangdong Province, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chengdu, Zhejiang Province, Fujian Province, Shantung Province, Hang Yang City, Macau, the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region, etc.
With the assistance of the China Consumer Association , the
ShopSmart
Website was launched in 2007 to provide consumer information to
Mainland visitors. 23 consumer organizations in the Mainland as
well as the China National
Tourism Administration added in their official websites a
hyperlink to the ShopSmart
Website.
(ix) Improving Legal Protection for Consumers
Consumers' legal rights should be protected by law. We keep abreast of developments in the law that may affect consumers' positions and welfare as users of goods and services. We took all the initiative to improve and protect consumers' legal rights by submitting our views in that regard to the Government.
In recent years, the Council expressed views and made recommendations in areas such as improvement on the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, introduction of a comprehensive trade practices statute, copyright protection in the digital environment and personal data (privacy) ordinance.
(x) Consumer Legal Action Fund
The Council is the Trustee of the Consumer Legal Action Fund through a Declaration of Trust executed in November, 1994. The Fund was established with a Government grant of $10 million. It aims to give easier consumer access to legal remedies by providing financial support and legal assistance for the benefits of consumers, particularly, groups with similar grievances in cases involving significant public interest and injustice.
From 11/1994 to 3/2010:
Number of applications considered:
1110
Problem solved during application: 85
Assistance granted: 677 (compensation recovered: 188)
