Introduction

Since the Hong Kong government's Response in 1997, the issue of competition policy has not faded into the background. Academic debate and investigation has continued, the Consumer Council has continued to lobby for a change of policy by government, some political parties have attempted to raise the matter in LEGCO, and civic organisations and the media have become more interested in the issue as HongKong's post-1997 performance deteriorated; concurrently the government has been faced with a continuing string of competition-related problems. COMPAG has been activated to handle competition issues and there have been major legislative developments in the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors. This chapter will seek to analyse the ongoing competition debate in Hong Kong.

Government competition policy in action: the Policy Statement

If the government's approach outlined in the 1997 Response were correct, one would have expected few, if any, competition-related problems since that time. However, this has not been the case. Particular issues will be identified and examined below as will the practical implementation of the Competition Policy Statement and the work of COMPAG.

In the next chapter, the interesting paradox of the government's stated position on competition regulation will be contrasted with the introduction of full sectoral competition regulation in two industries – telecommunications and broadcasting. This is the perfect example of the government's schizophrenic approach to this subject. Presumably only these two industries suffered from or were in danger of suffering anti-competitive activities so justifying the imposition of comprehensive regulation, whilst the rest of the economy did not suffer in this way, so justifying the lack of legislative intervention.