Small and medium-sized businesses say the government's draft competition law lacks detail and needs more clarity before they will back it, according to the city's leading business chamber.
Among the areas they want more details on are what constitutes price-fixing and abuse of market power.
The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce said the government's draft proposal was far from ideal and would place an unnecessary burden on small and medium-sized enterprises. These firms account for more than 98 per cent of the city's companies and employ nearly half of the working population.
Addressing such details could be key to the bill gaining support in the Legislative Council. In an attempt to get their concerns across, the chamber joined forces with other business organisations and stepped up communications with the government.
'We definitely support a good competition bill,' chamber chairman Anthony Wu Ting-yuk said. 'But the current draft is very different from our submission to the government. It lacks certainty.'
The bill is being scrutinised by lawmakers on the bills committee and is due to be tabled before the end of the legislative term in May 2012.
It will tackle two main types of anti-competitive behaviour. The first covers practices including price-fixing and market-sharing. The second, abuses of market power such as predatory behaviour by competitors.