ENG-2006 — Page 159

Commerce and Industry 127

purchasers, mortgagors and lessees of immovable property. The council comprises 22 members appointed by the Government from a wide spectrum of the community.

The council's key activities include testing and survey programmes, complaint. and advice services, consumer policy studies, publications and consumer education initiatives.

The council's testing and survey programmes seek to provide consumers with objective and up-to-date information so that they can make informed choices. During the year, 43 product tests, 16 survey projects and 44 in-depth studies were completed, covering a wide range of product and service areas from LCD TVs and air conditioners to water treatment devices and PAAG breast augmentation to telecommunications and financial services. Popular electronic products such as digital cameras, mobile phones and MP3 players were also regularly tested. Products were tested mainly for safety, performance, convenience, durability and environmental impact.

The council provides complaint and advisory services to the community through telephone hotlines, eight Consumer Advice Centres and the council's website. It acts as a mediator between consumers and the traders concerned. During the year, 35 962 consumer complaints and 166 180 consumer enquiries were received. Problems with telecommunications services continued to top the list of consumer complaints.

The council also monitors trade practices and competition-related issues that may have implications for consumer welfare. In June 2006, it issued the first voluntary code of practice for Hong Kong's fast growing beauty industry. In October, it released the Good Corporate Citizen's Guide II which provides in detail a set of principles upon which businesses can perform their role in the marketplace, and a guide to consumers as to their corresponding rights and responsibilities. During the year, it made 24 submissions in response to public consultation on subjects such as the establishment of the Communications Authority, and examined a number of matters related to trade practices such as unsolicited electronic messages and closure of bank branches. The council's chairman and chief executive are respectively members of the Government's Competition Policy Review Committee and the Competition Policy Advisory Group.

To provide consumers with independent and impartial market information, the council publishes the findings of its product tests and surveys together with practical advice and viewpoints to the public through its monthly magazine, CHOICE, which offers broad, multi-media access available in print, on the Internet as well as through residential fixed-line and mobile phones. In 2006, the council continued to organise the Consumer Rights Reporting Awards for the media and the public vote on the Top Ten Consumer News for the Year of the Rooster.

The seventh Consumer Culture Study Award organised during the year encouraged secondary school students to conduct their own studies of local consumer culture. In all, 696 teams, comprising 4 000 students from 125 secondary schools, participated in this programme.