Lawmaking is a slow process, and never more so than in the area of consumer protection. It is not just that there is a lack of legislation to cover things like toy safety, faulty electrical goods, unscrupulous estate agents or prepaid vouchers.
Where rules exist they are not co-ordinated, and when new laws are in the pipeline - like the proposal to safeguard consumers who have been injured by faulty goods - they are enacted in isolation.
Bringing all forms of consumer protection under one piece of legislation would be a start, but more intensive action is needed. As Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie pointed out in her speech yesterday, the burgeoning world of e-commerce opens up a new channel for every conceivable type of trade.
But cyberspace is unchartered territory and setting standards to which every country can adhere is a formidable task. A system has to be devised quickly which will establish an international benchmark for quality and a globally recognised symbol which guarantees refunds or redress if goods turn out to be faulty, unsafe or of shoddy manufacture.
In this global market, Hong Kong should be up among the leaders in consumer law. It can only be a matter of time before the global community begins to discuss the drafting of international laws to regulate e-commerce. The debate has already started in the West, and there is an opportunity here for the Government to set the ball rolling in Asia.
With that in the offing, and because of concern in legal circles about the lack of cohesive legislation in the domestic market, the definitive answer would be to seriously consider the setting up of a competition authority.