TRADE AND INDUSTRY
occupiers might rent spaces if they were not for sale. It also recommended that managers and incorporated owners should be empowered to enforce conditions in land grants relating to use. Some of the provisions in the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance should also apply when use was granted by way of a separate tenancy agreement or a licence.
To address the problem of limited disclosure, the council recommended that land grants, building covenants and pre-sale consent conditions should include a requirement for disclosure of the location, size and price of the carparks. Adequate notice should be given for disposal of carparks previously leased out. The council also called on the Real Estate Developers Association to devise a code of practice in respect of both sale and management of car parking spaces.
In response, the Lands Department undertook a review of the standard lease conditions covering parking and, by the end of the year, had agreed to incorporate suitable amendments in all future residential grants which would restrict the alienation of carparking spaces. With respect to improving the problem of limited disclosure, the Housing Bureau was considering the introduction of legislation requiring the disclosure in the sales brochure of the number of car parking spaces for sale and for rent.
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During the year, the Consumer Legal Action Fund, established in November 1994, initiated its first litigation action for the recovery of payments made by a group eight complainants to a modelling agency. The fund is part of the council's dispute resolution mechanism. It aims to offer assistance to aggrieved consumers whose complaints cannot be amicably resolved, to seek redress in court. The fund has satisfactorily resolved most cases without having to go to court. Since its establishment, the fund has considered 14 groups of cases; the number of complainants involved in each group varied from one to over 30. Five groups of cases have been assisted, of which three were successfully settled out of court and two were being pursued in court. One of the remaining nine groups was settled by the complainants while under consideration; two were denied assistance; four could not be processed as the matters did not develop further and two were being processed by the fund.
The council continues to organise educational activities to enhance public awareness of the legal rights afforded under a growing body of consumer protection legislation. Additional legal protection is in the pipeline. Two sub-committees of the Law Reform Commission, on which the council is represented, have issued consultation papers dealing with civil liability for unsafe products and sales description of overseas uncompleted residential properties.
During the year, the council responded to more than 245 000 consumer enquiries and processed 11 500 consumer complaints including 796 complaints from tourists. The settlement rate of consumer complaints stood at an average of 85 per cent of justifiable cases. The council also organised about 280 consumer educational activities at district level through its 16 consumer advice centres as well as publicity campaigns on such consumer concerns as sustainable consumption and reduction in the use of plastic shopping bags, etc.
In 1997, CHOICE maintained an average monthly circulation of 25 000 copies. It was a regular source of consumer information to the public and provided a stimulus for media coverage on a wide range of consumer issues and concerns. The council
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