[6] In light of the high inflation rate due to the global oil crisis in the 1970s, there were significant discrepancies in the qualities of essential daily necessities.

[10] With Hong Kong's rising status as the financial centre of Asia, the council had conducted various research on significant consumer and investor protection policies.

The award is designed for local secondary school students to explore consumer cultures, attitudes, and behaviours by generating study reports and collecting first-hand data.

[20] To enhance the cross-border cooperation in consumer protection and rights between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, the Council signed Memoranda of Understanding with 9 Mainland municipalities.

Same as many other statutory bodies, such as the Airport Authority Hong Kong, and governmental bureaus and departments, the Consumer Council sets up its performance pledge.

chairman and chief executive of the council are Paul Lam and Ms. Gilly Wong Fung-han respectively.Statutory bodies provide a basis for a certain extent of public participation in the policy process through the government's appointment.

There has been academic discussion that the colonial government before and during the transitional period up to the Handover had been prioritising the interest of business and professional elites in the appointment of leaders of Hong Kong's advisory and statutory bodies.

It covers 12 categories: 1) Home Appliances; 2) Tech-savvy; 3) Food and Cooking; 4) Silver Hair Market; 5) Family and Kids; 6) Life and Financial Planning; 7) Features; 8) Green Living; 9) Health and Beauty; 10) Leisure and Environment; 11) Trivial; and 12) Tips.

For instance, Leslie Cheung appeared as the first cover star for CHOICE Magazine with cassette tapes as the focus test product.

The 500th issue of CHOICE Magazine, published in June 2018, featured Ms Sarah Lee Wai Sze, the Olympics bronze medalist.

[34] The Council proposes suggestions to the Government and public bodies concerning different consumer issues and related legislation by releasing consultation papers.

[50] The Report noted that the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (or Towngas) enjoyed a “natural monopoly” status due to technical, legal and cultural factors in the provision of water heating and cooking fuel in the local market.

[51] Given that the infrastructure for manufacturing and distributing gas had been well-developed, the Council proposed that the Government should devise and adopt a “common carrier system” that enables new market entrants to gain access to the transmission piping network without heavy initial investments.

[52] Moreover, the council also advocated the adoption of, among others, a profit control mechanism, price-cap and price formula as regulatory tools to safeguard public interest whilst encouraging Towngas's investment and innovation.

As of April 2022, the Government's focus is on the enhancement of the quality of personalized and point-to-point transport services with legislative proposals to implement the Taxi Driver-Offence Points System.

Following the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's issuance of the Discussion Paper on Crypto-assets and Stablecoins in January 2022,[63] the Council submitted its views and suggestions for protecting consumer interests.

Among other aspects, the Council raised the possibilities for the government to tighten the existing Plastic Shopping Bag (PSB) Levy Scheme in an attempt to reduce waste at source.

Following the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX)’s release of the Consultation Paper on Review of the Environmental, Social and Governance Reporting Guide and Related Listing Rules,[65] the Council submitted its views and suggestions on protecting retail investors’ interests when it comes to sustainable investing in the Hong Kong stock market in July 2019.

[66] Among the recommendations, the Council suggested that the proposed ESG Reporting Guide of HKEX should render mandatory the disclosure of listed e-commerce companies’ usage of packaging materials and the reduction thereof.

[70] Although the council is willing to assist in the mediation of consumer complaints, in its 2008 study report, it was pointed out that criminal sanctions by public agencies are difficult to achieve.

As a result, aggrieved consumers are faced with the daunting task of taking civil action on their own as the only redress option; apart from seeking the assistance of the council for mediation.

Although the Consumer Council's computer system could generate reports showing traders/industries with the highest numbers of complaints in every month, there was no laid-down procedure to identify traders with repeated undesirable trade practices.

Moreover, the lack of data mining capability of the system makes it difficult to extract other useful information such as dispute resolution rates of traders for analysis.

[79] Thirdly, assistance from the Fund can be terminated “at any time”,[80] which may hinder citizens’ interests in applying CLAF since it is uncertain whether they can have sufficient monetary support to pursue their claims.

In November 2021, CRRA was suspended by the council, the news of which was first reported by Ta Kung Pao, which in its article accused the HKJA of being “anti-China” and disturbing Hong Kong.

On 7 February 2022, after reviewing various media development trends and taking reference to various international news awards, the council announced details of the revamped CRRA.

In December 2021, the Government announced that Ramon Yuen, a member of the Consumer Council, will vacate the position after finishing his two-year tenure by the end of 2021.

Guoqiang Lee [zh], the Chairperson of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council (as he then was) criticised that the public institutions were like “independent kingdoms”.

[86] Source:[87] The government would fund more than HK$20 million to assist the Consumer Council in updating its complaint processing system to handle merchant-consumer disputes, data analysis, risk alerts, and other tasks.

The system will reportedly leverage big data and artificial intelligence to analyse and store information, which can enable the council to better understand and identify issues of consumers’ concerns.