ABSTRACT
Under the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance (the Ordinance), there are about 120 offences in total. This chapter pays attention to the common approach exhibited by the modern consumer protection legislation altogether. It also explains the relationship between two criminal offences, misrepresentation and dissemination of false or misleading information. Essentially, the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance adopts two approaches to regulate information asymmetry and sales misdescription: first, to give detailed guidelines to vendors in the provision of sales brochures, advertisements, price lists, a register of transactions and so on.; second, to impose general criminal liability in cases of misrepresentation or dissemination of false or misleading information in sales of first-hand residential properties. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPUTR) recognizes three types of unfair commercial practices: misleading actions, misleading omissions and aggressive commercial practices. Overall, the implementation of the Ordinance has been effective in promoting accurate and timely information disclosure and enhancing transparency since its commencement in 2013.
