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Trade Department to launch interactive voice enquiry hotline

The Trade Department will launch a new customer service next week to provide a modern and convenient channel for the public to obtain important trade information during and outside office hours.

Starting from Wednesday (February 14), members of the public can utilise the new service - an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) - in obtaining such trade information as fees and charges, certification, licensing and application requirements and procedures and the validity period of different kinds of certificates and licences, in either English, Cantonese or Putonghua by just calling a 24-hour hotline 2392 2922.

The number is easy to remember if they memorise it as 23-922-922. Through the IVRS hotline, they can also obtain application forms and information leaflets on various services offered by the department and request for these to be sent to their fax machines.

Announcing this today (Sunday), a spokesman for the Trade Department said the new service was an important part of a phased programme implemented by the department to enhance the level of its services to meet increasing customer demands.

"Following the installation of a multi-media touch screen enquiry system in 1994, the department's telephone system was upgraded in May last year to enable customers to get through the lines more easily," the spokesman said.

"As there are at present more than 40 telephone enquiry numbers in the department dealing with different trade subjects, members of the public may need to undergo a process of dialling and re-dialling before they get to the right telephone number.

"To solve this problem, we are introducing the new IVRS service from where the public could obtain different trade information by just making one telephone call at

any

time of the day, seven days a week."

Apart from providing a centralised enquiry service, the spokesman said, the IRVS would help enhance staff productivity as the system could effectively handle most of the simple and general enquiries, thus enabling department staff to concentrate on other aspects of trade-related duties, to handle the more complicated enquiries and take necessary follow-up actions.

The spokesman said IVRS would be operating on two major functions: audiotext and fax transmission.