Govt Poised To Beef Up Online Fundraiser Regulations

The financial services chief, Christopher Hui, on Wednesday said the government is studying how to regulate online fundraising campaigns, adding it expects to publish a public consultation paper later this year.

At a Legco meeting, Federation of Trade Unions lawmakers Alice Mak and Joephy Chan said the government needs to step up the monitoring of online fundraisers who may be organising illegal activities.

Hui acknowledged that no specific legislation, departments or regulatory authorities are mandated to tackle such crimes.

He said the administration plans to complete an internal review on the matter by the third quarter of this year, and launch a public consultation in the fourth quarter.

"We plan to conduct consultation this year, which will cover the specific contents of future regulatory framework, including the scope of crowdfunding activities to be regulated [and] regulatory requirements... such as whether application, registration, disclosure and account auditing et cetera are required,” he said.

The minister added that legislative work and enforcement arrangement will also be part of the consultation.

The undersecretary for security, Sonny Au, said authorities have been making use of existing laws to handle cases involving online fundraisers.

Au said according to police investigations, there are several cases in which suspects may have used funds collected online for activities endangering national security or other criminal purposes.