Introduction

Since 2010, the Government has been encouraging the finance, insurance, telecommunications and call centres industries to implement an industry scheme in managing marketing calls with a view to minimizing the inconvenience that may be caused to the public.

These industries have issued their codes of practice (Industry Codes) with reference to the Benchmark Code of Practice on Person-to-Person Marketing Calls (Benchmark CoP) formulated by the then Office of the Telecommunications Authority since 2011. The key features set out in the Industry Codes include –

• marketing calls should only be made between Hong Kong time 9:00 am and 10:00 pm;
• A telemarketer which makes marketing calls should not conceal or withhold from the called party the calling line identification information of the sending telephone number. At the beginning of the call, the telemarketer should disclose the name of its principal and purposes of the call, and provide a contact number;
• The telemarketer should record and honour any unsubscribe request of the called party in a timely manner; and
• If the telemarketer is aware that the called party is travelling overseas, it should disconnect the call immediately or terminate the conversation as soon as practicable.

To further expand and strengthen the industry regulation of marketing calls, the Benchmark CoP was refined in 2024 with the following enhancements –

• The telemarketer should provide the name and the contact number at the request of the called party; and
• The principal or the telemarketer should set a limit on the number of cold calls made to a telephone number within a period.

Participating Industries

Apart from the four existing industries, three new industries, namely beauty, estate agencies and money lenders, have also joined the Industry Regulatory Scheme for Marketing Calls and issued their respective Industry Codes. The industries and respective associations are tabulated below –