Thursday 8th April 2010
Dear Reader,
We will close the opinion poll on class action rights for Hong Kong at 6pm tomorrow (Friday). Please vote! Your PIN is at the top of this e-mail. Total results will be sent to the Law Reform Commission, without names.
NEW ARTICLES
Cooked auctions in HK
A Court of Appeal judgment overturns fraud convictions for bid-rigging for
cooked food stalls at Tai Po Hui Market and makes clear that bid-rigging is
perfectly legal. We call for the proposed competition law to make bid-rigging,
price-fixing and other anti-competitive behaviour criminal offences. Civil
tribunals won't cut it, not least because they cannot fine humans. In the
meantime, the Government should include no-rigging warranties as a requirement
for all tenders, so that they can prosecute for fraud.
Government
supermarket vouchers
Supermarket vouchers are often used as a sales
incentive in HK, for anything from minibonds to TVs. The Government's last
proposal for a competition law would still allow behaviour such as resale price
maintenance, which the EU outlaws because it is "severely anti-competitive".
Have you ever wondered how much those supermarket vouchers actually cost? A
government tender to buy them reveals the answer. (27-Mar-10)
RECENT ARTICLES
Class actions
for HK
In a potentially huge step forward for access to justice, the Law Reform
Commission proposes a class action system for HK. The key issue is litigation
funding. Rather than a government-sponsored gatekeeper fund, we need a
free-market approach, with contingent legal fees and the abolition of archaic
laws against champerty and maintenance, to allow self-funded lawyers and third
party funders to bear the risks of loser-pays-costs. Take our opinion poll and
tell them what you think!
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