Hong Kong, China

We consider the promotion of competition a government-wide responsibility. All bureaux and departments are required to give due regard to the competition policy angle in formulating policy and devising measures within their respective policy portfolios. More specifically, they are required to examine the impact of all major policy proposals on competition, consider new initiatives to promote competition, review existing practices to ensure they comply with the competition policy, and handle competition-related complaints.

A Competition Policy Advisory Group (COMPAG) was established in December 1997 under the chairmanship of the Financial Secretary (equivalent to a minister of finance) to provide a high level, dedicated forum to review issues related to competition which have substantial policy or systemic implications, and to examine the extent to which more competition is needed in both the public and private sectors. The Economic Services Bureau serves as the Secretariat to COMPAG and is responsible for developing the overall competition policy for Hong Kong and ensuring that this is applied consistently across the board. The actual implementation of this policy rests with the relevant policy bureaux and their executive departments. This arrangement preserves overall policy consistency while allowing flexibility for individual sectors to develop sector-specific safeguards against restrictive business practices.

The Consumer Council, a statutory body, has also worked closely with COMPAG. It has helped bureaux and departments in monitoring the state of competition in different sectors and in handling competition-related issues and complaints. Starting from April 2000, the Council has become a full member of COMPAG.