Regulation of Debt Collection Practices
(HKLRC Consultation Paper)
On 28 July 2000, the Debt Collection Sub-committee issued the Consultation Paper on the Regulation of Debt Collection Practices.
The main recommedation are:
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A new criminal offence of harassment of debtors should be created, so that it will be an offence if a person, with the object of coercing another person to repay a debt -
- harasses the other with demands for payment which, in respect of their frequency or the manner or occasion of making any such demand, or of any threat or publicity by which any demand is accompanied, are likely to subject him or members of his family or household or any other person to alarm, distress or humiliation;
- falsely represents, in relation to the money claimed, that criminal proceedings lie for failure to pay it;
- falsely represents himself to be authorised in some official capacity to claim or enforce payment; or
- utters a document falsely represented by him to have some official character or purporting to have some official character which he knows it has not.
- harasses the other with demands for payment which, in respect of their frequency or the manner or occasion of making any such demand, or of any threat or publicity by which any demand is accompanied, are likely to subject him or members of his family or household or any other person to alarm, distress or humiliation;
- Debt collection agencies should be licensed by a new licensing authority, and it should be a criminal offence to operate a debt collection agency or undertake debt collection work for others without a valid licence.
- The proposed licensing regime should cover both consumer debts and commercial debts, and both individual and corporate debt collectors.
- A code of practice should be formulated, the breach of which may result in the suspension or revocation of a debt collector's licence. The provisions in the code of practice should be drawn up by the regulatory body after consultation with market operators and a review of similar codes of practice adopted in other jurisdictions.
- There should be a review of the existing limitations imposed on the collection and use of certain positive credit data taking into consideration the types of positive credit data available to credit providers in other major financial centres. Efforts should also be made to increase participation in the sharing of information by increasing the type of information shared.
| Press Release (PDF) (MS Word) |
| Executive Summary (PDF) (MS Word) |
| Consultation Paper (PDF) (MS Word) |