The newly-appointed Chairman of the Consumer Council, Professor Andrew CHAN Chi-fai, is set to meet the challenges of a rapidly globalised and sophisticated marketplace.
The Chairman has charted the direction for the Council to move into the next millenium with priority in five major areas of work:
- Strengthen consumer safeguards in the real and virtual marketplace.
- Help raise competitiveness of Hong Kong.
- Foster a consumer culture: empowering consumers to protect their own rights and being committed to sustainable consumption.
- Intensify its consumer policy work and exchanges with counterparts overseas and in the Mainland.
- Explore wider use of electronic information technology in service provision.
First and foremost, the Chairman stresses, the Council must strengthen its consumer protection and empowerment efforts with support from the Government and all sectors of the community.
Prof. Chan cites the example of the consultation paper on misleading, deceptive advertising and trade practices which the Council issued in July setting out options that include, inter-alia, the amendment of legislation and self-regulation of the trade.
The Council is consulting the general public and all interested groups on this very important issue. Upon expiration of the consultation period at the end of October, the Council will formulate and submit its recommendations to the Government.
It is expected that the Government will consider the recommendations together with an earlier proposal from the Council that it be empowered to sue on behalf of consumers. These measures combined are significant to the vital interests of both consumers and visiting tourists.
In this regard the Council is also aware of the need to ensure that the safeguards that are introduced will be adequate to deal with the evolution of electronic commerce.
Second, the Council will contribute towards raising the competitiveness of Hong Kong by:
- encouraging the business sector to develop a customer-focused culture that is conducive to building consumer confidence and promoting fair competition, and which in the process, creates a win-win situation for both the business and the consumer; and
- advocating fair competition in the marketplace to further enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness in the global marketplace.
In this regard the Council will work jointly with the business sector and professionals to encourage the drawing up of voluntary codes of practice consistent with best business practices and competition principles, that are beneficial to consumers.
Third, the Council will foster a consumer culture empowering consumers to be conscious of their rights and obligations, able to stand up and fend for these rights, and be committed to sustainable consumption and environmental protection.
Specific consumer education activities and programmes will be implemented to achieve this objective targetting initially the young and the elderly, and new immigrants to Hong Kong.
Fourth, with rapid globalisation of the marketplace and technological advances, the Council will strengthen its consumer policy work, keep abreast of global developments, and forge closer ties and co-operation with consumer organisations overseas and in the Mainland.
Examples of this international exchange include Hong Kong's participation in the Consumers International (CI) landmark international comparative study of electronic commerce undertaken by consumer organisations in 11 countries; and another CI project on sustainable consumption that results in the publication of 'Green Guidance' with sound advice on putting sustainable consumption into practice. The Council also liaises closely with consumer associations in the Mainland, for example, in handling complaints and exchange of information on hazardous products, etc.
Lastly, the Council will intensify the application of information technology to further strengthen its services to the public.