Hong Kong to open doors for more lawful sharing economy businesses ‘such as GoGoVan’
Consider ‘sandbox’ approach for sharing economy businesses, suggests lawmaker
The city’s top innovation and technology official has now struck a more welcoming tone on online and sharing economy businesses, saying that he will explore removing regulatory barriers and update laws to help them operate.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, innovation and technology minister Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung said the government was “very much for the sharing economy” and held up GoGoVan, a goods van-hailing service, as a positive example.
“This is an Uber-like company that uses a similar business model without violating any law,” he said.
Yang’s comments came after Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor explicitly endorsed the sharing economy in her policy address on Wednesday. Acknowledging that the sharing economy had fuelled the rise of new economic activities in China and elsewhere, she said her administration would remove red tape to “foster the development of a new economy” and ditch “outdated provisions that impede the development of innovation and technology”.
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Ride-hailing service Uber, home-sharing operator Airbnb and bike-sharing service Gobee.bike have posed a headache for the government, which has to respond to growing consumer demand for technology-driven services, while ensuring that these businesses do not pose a risk to the public and comply with existing laws. Hong Kong rentals offered through Airbnb for instance, are not governed by laws that require hotels and guest houses to meet building and fire safety standards.
Yang and his colleagues from the Innovation and Technology Bureau had previously taken flak from members of the public, after saying in June that Uber had broken the law deliberately “by allowing its drivers to pick up guests illegally”. A Hong Kong court found five Uber drivers guilty of driving without a permit or third-party insurance in March this year. Uber responded by calling on the government to legalise and regulate ride-sharing services. The law currently restricts the number of permits given out to private car hire services, and imposes other strict criteria on them.