News Release – September 21, 2006

Opinion leaders at a business forum have encouraged the government to de-regulate business sectors but were split as to whether Hong Kong needs a fair competition law.

Speaking at a panel discussion organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, barrister and veteran journalist Danny Gittings said experience in other countries showed that companies would use such a law to gang up on their competitors.

Even if there are market abuses, you have to balance that against the damage that would be done by adding a regulatory level, said Gittings, who is deputy editorial page editor of Wall Street Journal Asia.

“Hong Kong has grown up in a relatively de-regulated environment. That’s how Hong Kong has thrived. We need to think very carefully before we make such a fundamental change.

“Do you want to import what has not been a positive experience in many other countries?” he asked.

He pointed out that one-third of complaints about anti-competitive behaviors involved government restrictive practices, and it is unlikely these would be addressed through a competition policy.

There must first be a clear explanation of why Hong Kong needs a new competition law at all, he said.

A member of the Competition Policy Review Committee, Professor K C Chan of the University of Science and Technology, agreed that the government should de-regulate as much as possible and promote competition.

Then he noted that consumers are also concerned about the dominant positions of large operators.

“Without legislative backing, we can’t ease those concerns,” he said.

He said the review committee had recommended a cautious approach at the initial stage.

In order to avoid abuse of the law to hit against competitors, he said complaints would be dealt with through a commission and private actions disallowed.

Thomas Cheng, an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong, said de-regulation should be pursued but could not solve all competition problems.

He said even strict enforcement of competition laws by the US and European Commission has not prevented multi-national corporations from colluding.

“It would stretch imagination to assume that Hong Kong companies with no antitrust law to speak of would very dutifully compete and not collude with each other,” he said.

Peter Macmillan, Head of Competition Group at Johnson Stokes & Master, stressed the importance of adopting a staged approach.

“If we are to have a competition law, let’s do it right. That’s the key message.

“We need to have public interest safety valves so that we don’t apply mechanically and we have some flexibility,” he said.

Photos of the panel discussion are available for download at the following links:

Caption: From the right – Thomas Cheng, K.C. Chan, Stephen Vines (moderator), Peter Macmillan and Danny Gittings.

For inquiries, please contact Ms Pamela Ngai at 81023450 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .