The SCMP reports…
A Hong Kong court is set to hear the first case involving competition law since the new ordinance came into force in December.
The case, to be heard in the civil division of the High Court, features travel agency Loyal Profit International Development as the plaintiff and the Travel Industry Council as the defendant.
The travel agency said in a writ earlier that a new clause set out last year in the council’s guidelines required registered agencies and retail shops to refund mainland tourists’ purchases within six months if they ask for it, a rule which they claim breaches the competition ordinance.
Agencies or stores which failed to comply with the council’s rule would not be given registration with the council and therefore lose business, as no mainland tourists would be brought to them, the agency is claiming in court.
In a pre-trial hearing yesterday, Mr Justice Jonathan Harris said as far as he knew, there had never been a case which touched upon the ordinance since it came in force on December 14 last year.
“This may well be the first consideration,” he said.
Barrister Anson Wong Yu-yat, for the agency, argued: “Having
a list of [registered] shops frequented by tourists is outright anti-competitive.”
Originally scheduled for two days, Harris invited both sides to reconsider the length of the trial given the complexity involved.
In the writ filed in February, the agency also mentioned that the council rules included a clause which required travel agencies to pay tour guides before any guided tours, so that guides would not force mainland tourists to make purchases at shops.
In another clause, travel agencies and tour guides were required to sign an agreement with the council.
The writ said the two clauses, together with the refund clause, had also violated company law relating to the relationship between employers and employees.
The agency asked the court to impose an injunction against the guidelines in question.
