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the Consumer Rights Reporting Awards for the media and the public vote on the Top Ten Consumer News for the Year.
The ninth Consumer Culture Study Award organised during the year encouraged secondary school students to conduct their own studies of local consumer culture. In all, 761 teams, comprising more than 4 150 students from 103 secondary schools, participated in this programme.
The council continues to work closely with the Education Bureau on teachers' training. The Teacher Training Workshop Series 'Assessment Structure and Rubrics for New Senior Secondary Independent Enquiry Studies in the Liberal Studies Curriculum' for Yuen Long District Humanities Teachers Network had been conducted in the first season. A new web-based teacher training course, 'Learning and Teaching of Personal, Social and Humanities Education Key Learning Area: The Consumer Education Perspective', was also launched. Over 150 teachers enrolled in the course.
The council has continued to administer the Consumer Legal Action Fund, which enhances consumer access to legal remedies. In 2008, the fund considered 15 groups of applications and granted assistance in one group. Two groups of assisted cases carried over from previous years were still in progress.
The council is an executive and council member of Consumers International, a federation of 220 consumer organisations in 115 countries and territories. Hong Kong won the bid to host its 19th World Congress in 2011.
The council maintains regular contact with overseas and Mainland counterparts, and exchanges information, handles consumer complaints from tourists and considers initiatives to pursue wider consumer interests.
With tourists from the Mainland topping the list of visitors to Hong Kong, the council has taken a proactive role in strengthening consumer protection for Mainland tourists. Memorandums of Understanding for Co-operation were signed with major Mainland cities/provinces. The council maintains an informative website to provide one-stop consumer information covering a broad range of topics of interest to Mainland tourists. The website is hyperlinked to the official websites of a number of consumer organisations in the Mainland.
Enforcement of Consumer Protection Legislation
The Customs and Excise Department carries out spot checks and investigations to ensure that toys, children's products and consumer goods supplied in Hong Kong. are safe, the fineness of articles of gold and platinum is correctly marked, and the quantity of goods supplied in the course of trade by weight and measures is accurate. In 2008, the department carried out 3 666 spot checks and 1 302 investigations.
The Government Laboratory provides analytical and advisory services to the Customs and Excise Department in the enforcement of the consumer protection legislation. In 2008, the laboratory carried out 32 364 tests on toys, children's products and consumer goods to determine whether they complied with relevant
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