Unscrupulous business practices 打擊不良營商手法避重就輕聊勝於無

TO prohibit unscrupulous business practicesthat may harm consumer interests, thegovernment is planning to have the TradeDescriptions Ordinance amended so that it will coverservice providers' descriptions. Details have yet to beannounced. However, the government's tentative ideais that the amendment should affect small rather thanbig businesses. Many have suggested that theamendment should provide for a cooling-off period.

However, the government has rejected this suggestion.

Therefore, it is planning only to take a very small stepin the right direction. One should not expect theamendment to help bring about a healthy, fair marketenvironment or go a long way towards protectingconsumer rights.

We believe it will go some way if the governmentproperly handles the following.

(1) Descriptions of services are different fromthose of goods in that goods are physical. It is quite anabstract question when information in respect ofservices should be regarded as false, misleading orincomplete. Definitions must be clear, precise andsimple to understand so that there will be as few greyareas as possible. There should be few loopholeswhich unscrupulous service providers may availthemselves of.

(2) The government intends the customs toenforce the new law. Customs officers must acquiremore knowledge before they can effectively do so.

They may have to receive special training.

Furthermore, they will have heavier workloads. It is aconcern whether they can cope.

What the government intends to do would stopsome, but not all, loopholes. For example, thegovernment does not dare to do anything about themis-selling of financial products or flats.The government dares not regulate the selling offlats by legislation. It leaves it to developers to policethemselves. Some developers have resorted tocontroversial ways to sell their flats. However, thegovernment has neither the power nor the nerve to doanything about it. Two years ago, the ConsumerCouncil suggested that the legislation to prohibitunscrupulous business practices should apply also tothe real estate sector. The government has rejectedthis proposal. Clearly, it is still reluctant to do anythingto protect the biggest, most important investmentscitizens may make in their life.

It is obvious that some banks have mis-soldLehman Brothers minibonds. However, thegovernment does not intend the amendment to theTrade Descriptions Ordinance to cover financialproducts. This is another piece of evidence that itwants to kill flies rather than tigers.

We gather that the government intends to letsellers of flats and financial products "go by" becausethe two industries are major pillars of the economy. It issaid that, if the amendment affects the selling of flatsand financial products, those in the two industries mayreact by trying to block the legislation, and that may nothelp protect consumer rights because, if theamendment is delayed, other service providers'

unscrupulous practices cannot be soon prohibited.The government wants to do something about"descriptions of services", but it would not introduce acooling-off period as suggested. To protect mainlandvisitors' rights, the authorities introduced a long timeago a refund protection scheme under which a visitormay seek a full refund within six months of purchase.

However, the government is not keen on doing muchto protect local consumers' interests. Clearly, itspolicies tend to be favourable to businesses. That isquite at variance with its idea of government that itshould put the people first.

Though the service sector is what Hong Kongaims at developing, its infrastructure does not meet theSAR's real needs. The government's plan to have"descriptions of services" governed by statute is onlyan attempt to stop some loopholes by tinkering with thesystem. That is a far cry from proactively makingpolicies aimed at ensuring service standards andprotecting consumer rights.

明報社評

2010.02.09

打擊不良營商手法避重就輕聊勝於無

政府終於針對不良營商手法、坑害消費者的行為，計劃修訂《商品說明條例》，把條例擴及服務業，規管「服務說明」，具體細節尚待公布，但是政府初步構想是「管小不管大」；至於許多人建議的「冷靜期」，政府亦不會引入。因此，政府這項舉措只是朝正確方向邁出一小步，能否營造健康公平的市場環境，最大程度保障消費者權益，難抱太大期望。

我們認為如果處理好以下兩點，可以收到一定效果。首先是關於「服務說明」，不同於「商品說明」有實物佐證， 「服務說明」怎樣才算誤導、虛假和資訊不足，較為抽象，要有清晰準確定義，簡單易明，盡量壓縮灰色地帶，以免被不良商人鑽空子。

其次是執法若交由海關執行，海關人員需要更多知識，才可以有效執法，可能涉及海關人員培訓問題；另外，海關人員工作量會增加，能否應付，也值得關注。政府有關構想，雖然可以堵塞部分漏洞，但不夠全面，例如關於金融產品和房屋的銷售手法，政府都不敢去碰。

政府對於售樓手法，卻「不敢」立法規管，全賴發展商自律。政府面對發展商一些具爭議的推銷手法，管不了，也不敢管。消委會兩年前建議制訂跨行業法例規管不良營商手法時，包括規管物業銷售，政府未接納，顯示香港人畢生最大、最重要的投資，政府仍然不肯給市民較大保障。

銀行在迷債的不良銷售情况相當明顯，政府卻不予一併規管，是政府打蒼蠅不打老虎另一的例證。政府這次「放過」樓宇和金融產品銷售，據知兩者乃本港經濟兩大主要支柱，若納入一併規管，政府恐會引起業者反彈，屆時立法曠日持久，而其他服務業的不良銷售手法未能及早規管，反而不利消費者云云。其實，這個只是表面理由，關鍵還在政府是否有決心打老虎。另外，政府規管「服務說明」，將不會接納「冷靜期」的建議。不過，當局為保障內地「自由行」旅客，放心在港消費，早已推出「百分百退款」計劃，其間長達半年。政府卻吝於給本地市民消費的保障，反映政府的政策取向依然向商界傾斜，與所謂施政「以民為本」的理念，大相徑庭。

服務業是本港經濟結構的主要發展方向，但是本港環繞服務業的基礎建設，卻未能符合實際需要。這次構想規管「服務說明」，只是堵塞漏洞，修修補補，與主動推行政策措施，優化服務質素，保障消費者權益，差之仍遠。

Glossary

policeTo police a group is to make sure that itsmembers obey a particular set of rules.nervecourage.

at variance /'ve ?rI ?ns/ withdisagreeing with or opposing.