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Response to debt problem attacked

Lawmakers want to know why the government has not acted on a report published two years ago

Legislators yesterday questioned why the government had not acted on a Law Reform Commission report published two years ago that recommended the regulation of debt collectors.

Independent lawmaker Albert Chan Wai-yip, who raised the issue in Legco, said debt-collection agencies were now being used not only by banks, finance companies and telecommunications firms, but also by beauty service companies and tutors.

In reply, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong told the Legislative Council that the government was still studying the report and expected to present its views to the public next year.

He said the complex issue involved a number of government bureaus and departments as well as external bodies such as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Some issues had to be re-examined because the Privacy Commissioner had amended the code on access to consumers' credit information, he said.

'We are still studying the Law Reform Commission's recommendations, and the matter involves many bureaus and policy areas - such as the Security Bureau, the Financial Services Bureau, the Home Affairs Bureau, the Social Welfare Department and organisations such as the HKMA,' Mr Lee said.

'The administration has to carefully consider very complicated issues, such as how any laws would affect the business of lending and borrowing, and the relationship between lender and borrower.'

Between February and September this year, there were 1,234 criminal reports relating to debt-collection agencies. The complaints included criminal damage, intimidation and wounding.

But there were more than 10 times as many complaints - 13,774 - that were not covered by law, such as nuisance telephone calls and repeated dunning letters.

The Law Reform Commission's report recommended legislation to regulate the practices of collection agencies. It suggested making it illegal for agencies to harass debtors, and proposed the introduction of a licensing system for agencies and individual debt collectors.

Mr Lee said the police took a serious view of abusive debt-collection practices and had streamlined their procedures in relation to such crimes since 2000. The HKMA and the Securities and Futures Commission had adopted measures to ensure the institutions they regulated did not employ debt collectors who used inappropriate tactics, he said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Sin Chung-kai said it was unacceptable for the administration to take almost three years to draft its response to the report. He questioned if the delay had been caused by the Security Bureau's focus on national security laws under Article 23 of the Basic Law.

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