HK gov't issues consultation document for competition law proposals

HONG KONG, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of Hong Kong Frederick Ma on Tuesday announced the launch of a three-month public consultation on government proposals for a new competition law for Hong Kong.

Presenting a consultation document which sets out details of the proposals, Ma said the government looked forward to receiving the public's views on the proposed framework before finalizing the Competition Bill for introduction into the Legislative Council (Legco).

"Introduction of the new law will help us to more effectively implement our competition policy, which is aimed at enhancing economic efficiency and the benefit of consumers through promoting sustainable competition."

"By setting out a clear and enforceable prohibition against anti-competitive conduct, a competition law can help facilitate a better business environment for companies and protect consumers' rights, for the benefit of all sectors of society."

Ma said that at the last public consultation exercise on the way forward for Hong Kong's competition policy, there was general support for the introduction of a cross-sector competition law.

"However," he said, "we recognize that some stakeholders, particularly business sector representatives and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) had concerns that such a law should not create extra compliance costs or lead to excessive litigation. To this end, the public consultation paper has specifically set out a number of proposals to address their concerns."

The consultation paper covers key elements that will form the basis of a competition law, including the proposed regulatory structure, types of conduct that will be prohibited, penalties that will apply for infringing the law, the right to take private action, and criteria and mechanisms for granting exemptions and exclusions from the application of the law.

"We will take full account of these views when finalizing our drafting of the Competition Bill," Ma said, adding that it remained the Government's intention to introduce the Bill into Legco in the 2008-09 legislative session, as announced in the Chief Executive's 2007 Policy Address.

The three-month consultation period starting Tuesday will end on Aug. 5.