The Demerit System for Registered Shops, after much preparation, is finally in place this Monday (25 April), which will hopefully be able to make sure that group visitors have a better shopping experience in Hong Kong. Under the system, registered shops in breach of any one of the six pledges they have made to the TIC will be given a certain number of demerits. Once they have accumulated 30 demerits, their cases will be referred to the Committee on Shopping-related Practices . If the Committee rules that the registration of a registered shop should be revoked, then the TIC will issue a directive to prohibit member agents from arranging for visitors to patronise the registered shop concerned. Some people may ask, "Why does the TIC regulate registered shops?" To cut a long story short, the TIC had issued a directive to its members as early as January 2002 to facilitate the government policy of requiring inbound travel agents to be licensed. The directive stipulated that, with effect from 1 February 2002, members had to register with the TIC those shops which they intended to take visitors to patronise and that those registered shops had to honour a number of pledges made to the TIC, one of which was that customers would be given a full refund for their purchases if a refund request was made within 14 days. The relevant legislation later took effect on 1 November 2002, under which travel agents doing inbound travel business must first join the TIC and then obtain a licence.
To ensure the success of the 14-day, 100% Refund Guarantee Scheme, the TIC Board decided, in July 2004, to set up the Committee on Shopping-related Practices to deal with issues related to registered shops. The Committee, composed of trade and non-trade members, suggested after several months of careful study that the TIC should implement a demerit system for registered shops in order that they will fulfil their pledges. The TIC Board accepted the suggestion at its meeting held in April 2005, hence the demerit system taking effect on 25 April 2005.
The introduction of a demerit system, apart from better protecting group visitors, is also a good thing for registered shops because, with such a system in place, transparency will be greatly increased as registered shops now know exactly how they will be handled if they breach their pledges. Also, with procedures for handling violation cases and an appeal mechanism set up under the demerit system, registered shops can now run their business with a clear set of don'ts in mind, thus reducing operation risks.
Although the demerit system can only regulate registered shops which are patronised by agent-arranged group visitors, it should at least boost the satisfaction of group visitors in shopping. As for those shops patronised by visitors on their own, we hope the authorities will devote more efforts to regulating their practices, in a bid to protect the reputation of Hong Kong as the paradise for shoppers.
Ronnie Ho
29 April 2005