Submissions and Reports

The Chamber welcomes the opportunity to comment on the HKEX’s proposed introduction of corporate WVR structures. Prior to committing our support for this proposal, we recommend that the HKEx provide further elaboration on the necessity for establishing such a regime as well as the effectiveness of investor safeguards raised in the consultation paper.

The Chamber suggests the need for a comprehensive review of the Telecommunications Ordinance to ensure that regulations keep pace with technological advancements and to facilitate the rollout of 5G mobile networks.

The Chamber welcomes the Government’s decision to launch a review of the Broadcasting Ordinance and Telecommunications Ordinance, although we are surprised that it has taken six years to carry out this review. We would therefore like to resubmit our previous proposals for the Government’s consideration and call on it to expedite the process of updating these two pieces of legislation through a holistic rather than narrow approach.

In its response, the Chamber welcomed the proposal to promote wider options for customers and foster innovation in Hong Kong but also called for clarification in certain areas to ensure a level playing field for virtual and conventional banks.

The Chamber has all along been supporting the Government’s initiative to embrace and adopt technology more widely to develop Hong Kong into a smart city. While the business sector would like to see prompt and concrete actions of a smart government, we therefore urge the Government to be more swift and resolute in breaking through the bureaucratic routine and take the lead to scale up the momentum immediately.

The Chamber supports the proposal on the reallocation of the frequency spectrum 3.4 – 3.7 GHz band from fixed satellite service to mobile service. We believe the arrangement can enable the adoption of 5G services in Hong Kong, facilitate our development as a smart city, foster Internet of Things initiatives and achieve parity in mobile service standards with Mainland China and other jurisdictions.

The Chamber welcomes the Government's proposals under the updated masterplan "Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030." It is encouraging that the Government is planning to build a green, smart and liveable city, but the Chamber worries about how various master plans such as “Hong Kong 2030+,” “Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint,” “Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2030+” and “Railway Development Strategy 2014” can be aligned with each other; and how labour supply and talent development can meet demand for our future development.

The Chamber supports the HKSAR Government’s initiative to embrace and adopt technology more widely as an accelerator to develop Hong Kong into a smart city, and emphasize the fundamental importance of Smart Government and Smart Citizen among the six themes for the development of an innovative and sustainable smart city.

The Chamber supports the Government’s initiative to embrace and adopt technology more widely as an accelerator to develop Hong Kong into a smart city (or a “livable city”), and the selection of Kowloon East to trial run some feasible initiatives.

The Chamber agrees that the Government should explore the notion of electronic road pricing (“ERP”) as a tool to control traffic but also feels that attention should be devoted to other issues that contribute to the chronic problem of traffic congestion in the Central District as ERP alone is not enough as to provide relief.