HONG KONG SAR, CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Gordon Chan
The Consumer Council is a statutory body established under the Consumer Council Ordinance (Cap 216) to promote the protection of consumer rights. Its work is primarily educational. While it is empowered to receive consumer complaints, it lacks direct enforce - ment authority. However, it regularly conducts product testing and publishes reports and warnings. Other government departments serve as sector-spe - cific regulators, including: • The Electrical and Mechanical Services Depart - ment (EMSD) – this regulates household electrical products. It administers and enforces the Electrical Products (Safety) Regulation, carries out inspec - tions, and may pursue prosecutions for non-com - pliant products. • The Drug Office and the Medical Device Division of the Department of Health (DH) – these regulate pharmaceutical products, medicines, and medical devices, including registration, quality, and post- market surveillance. • The Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Envi - ronmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) – this man - ages food safety, including imports, labelling, and hygiene standards. • The Fire Services Department (FSD) – this regulates dangerous goods, including their manufacture, storage, transportation and use. It may come as a surprise that certain sectors have no specific regulators. One example is cosmetic prod - ucts. Depending on the ingredients involved, a cos - metic product might only be covered by the regulation for general product safety enforced by the C&ED, or the regulation for pharmaceutical products or Chinese medicine enforced by the DH. 1.3 Obligations to Commence Corrective Action Hong Kong has a high standard of consumer product safety. Under the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance (Cap 456), the supply, manufacture, or importation into Hong Kong of unsafe consumer goods consti - tutes a criminal offence. It is, however, a defence if the person did not know, or had no reasonable grounds to believe, that the goods failed to comply with safe - ty requirements. Thus, once it becomes known that
certain consumer products are unsafe, the prudent course of action for the relevant parties is to volun - tarily recall the product from the market to protect themselves against criminal prosecution. Furthermore, the C&ED has been given wide power to serve notices. Failure to comply with the following also constitutes a criminal offence: • A notice to warn, obliging a person, at their own expense and arrangement, to publish a warning on unsafe consumer goods and the steps to be taken. • A prohibition notice, prohibiting a person from supplying unsafe consumer goods for a specified period not longer than six months. The period is extendable if proceedings have also been com - menced for criminal prosecution and the destruc - tion of seized or detained consumer goods. • A recall notice, obliging the immediate withdrawal from the market of unsafe consumer goods that carry a significant risk of causing a serious injury. • A testing notice, requiring suspected unsafe con - sumer goods to be tested. • A modification notice, obliging a manufacturer, importer or supplier of consumer goods to modify the goods or their labelling, packaging or advertis - ing, to comply with safety requirements or stand - ards. • An advertising notice, obliging those who adver - tise specified consumer goods to include warn - ing notices in the advertisements, or to cease the advertising. The C&ED had also been given the power to enter premises, and inspect and seize consumer goods and related documents, where there is reasonable belief that an offence under the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance (Cap 456) or Toys and Children’s Products Safety Ordinance (Cap 424) had been committed. For food products, the Food Safety Ordinance (Cap 612) provides a legal framework for mandatory record- keeping for the acquisition of records and capture of aquatic products, as well as the wholesale supply of food. Records must be kept in accordance with a product’s shelf life. For food with a shelf-life of three months or less, records must be kept for at least three
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