Public pressure forces shelving of law that hides company directors’ details

Under public pressure, the government has decided to shelve a controversial law restricting public access to the personal information of company directors.

The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said yesterday it would hold back the legislation until consensus had been reached on ways to strike a balance between privacy and freedom of information.

The announcement, in a paper submitted to the Legislative Council yesterday, came two months after bankers, lawyers, journalists and businessmen spoke out about their concerns.

The law, under which directors and company secretaries would no longer have to make public their residential addresses and full identification numbers, is a clause attached to the new Companies Ordinance passed in July last year. It is due to be approved by lawmakers in May.

But public opposition grew in January when the government briefed lawmakers on the subsidiary legislation. It was criticised for undermining the free flow of information, with opponents saying it would eventually hinder newsgathering, prevent employees from finding delinquent bosses to recover arrears of wages and block businessmen from verifying the status of clients.

"We believe we should not rush to solutions without giving more time for the community to build consensus on those issues," the bureau says in the paper. "After we have brought the new Companies Ordinance into operation [in the first quarter of next year], we shall formulate proposals on this subject for further engagement with stakeholders."