Introduction

1. The Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries welcomes the opportunity to comment on the consultation paper on “junk fax”, and would like to set out our views as follows.

　

Principle

2. We acknowledge that “junk fax” is a problem for fax machine users. In the majority of cases, however, the issue is one of nuisance and inconvenience rather than malice. Our answer to the question posed in the consultation paper – viz. “Legislation or Administrative Approach to Tackle Problem?” – is decidedly that the temptation to legislate should be resisted.
3. Although there may be cases of unsolicited fax with genuinely criminal or malicious intent, these are rare and, in our view, there is already enough legislation to deal with them.
4. For the vast majority of the unsolicited fax of an ordinary, day-to-day nature, the issue in question is one of good (or bad) business practice. The approach to tackle the junk fax problem should therefore be one based on non-legal (i.e. administrative) measures, since no amount of legislation can bring about good business practice – nor should it be the intent of the legal system to do so. Rather, in the system to regulate junk fax, there should be ample room for the market to develop its own solution to resolving the problem for the consumer and encouraging good practice for the originator of the faxes.
5. Ultimately, a piece of junk fax is a form of data transmitted via telecommunications. In light of the rapid development in the respective industries, it is conceivable that the junk fax problem could be resolved through development of appropriate products and services by the market itself, as well as by encouraging good practices among information service providers.

　

The market approach

6. An example is that of a caller-display type of arrangement. A lot of “problematic” junk faxes relate to the identity of the fax originator being withheld. With caller-display, however, it has become technically feasible to programme a fax machine so that it only receives identifiable calls.
7. Another market solution is to exploit the increasing use of computers. Often junk faxes originate as files sent from some fax servers. A computer at the receiving end will be able to accept the fax without wasting paper or missing concurrent incoming data. Furthermore, a computer can be programmed to receive or reject incoming callers of particular characteristics at the receipient’s choice, thus giving the latter much greater control over incoming messages.
8. We realise that the above examples do not yet reflect the typical usage of fax reception, and that the majority of households or businesses are still using the ordinary fax machines. However, with the onset of the “information age”, the integration of fax with other forms of data through computers is a trend which is irreversible. Any legislation aimed at dealing with a particular type of machine will risk becoming outdated very soon.
9. Instead of legislation, therefore, the market approach should be strengthened through consumer education. OFTA should provide more information in the Consumer Education Leaflet on the devices which may effectively help fax users to combat the junk fax problem, e.g. caller display with blacklist, block-the-blocker services etc.

　

The service provider approach

10. For the service providers, the solution to the junk fax problem lies in an effective self-regulatory regime. There are two aspects to this system, namely, regulation by the FTNS operator and self-regulation among fax senders.
11. For FTNS operators, we support the proposal in the consultation paper for a code of practice to be adopted. Such a code should be consistently applied to the handling of complaints against junk fax.
12. For senders of junk fax, we support the introduction of a set of guidelines as proposed by OFTA. Although voluntary in nature, the guidelines will encourage good practice among businesses, for example, the practice of including sender identification in all unsolicited advertisement (thus enabling the fax recipients to inform fax senders to include their numbers in the “not-to-call” list). In addition, we suggest that business organisations should, through their own codes of ethics or practice notes, encourage their members to comply with the OFTA guidelines.
13. For self-regulation to be effective, there needs to be some deterrent in the case of non-compliance. In other words, the regulations need to be backed by measures which should have “teeth”. In this regard, we believe the Independent Complaints Committee being proposed by FTNS operators should usefully serve that purpose.

　

Conclusion

14. In conclusion, we believe the solution to the junk fax problem lies not in legislation but in exploiting the dynamics of the industry and the market.

(Ends)