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Guide on Consultation Process
In order to further enhance the transparency of the Authority's
decision-making process, the Authority drew up a guide on
its consultation process. The guidelines set out the Authority's
approach to consultation with the public and the industry
in performing its statutory duties (such as licence application
and renewal, approval and revision of codes of practice).
The guidelines were issued for consultation in September 2005
and promulgated in February 2006. According to the guidelines,
for new licence application or licence renewal, a notice stating
the name of the applicant and the type of licence sought by
the applicant together with information about the channel
line-up, coverage of service, transmission mode etc. will
be posted on the newspapers as well as the Authority's website
in order to gauge the public's views. The Authority will consider
any representations received to make an informed decision.
For licence renewal, the Authority will collect public opinions
through public hearings and opinion surveys. Prior to the
public hearing, the Authority will publish a consultation
document on its website to provide background information
(e.g. complaint records, new service proposals) and highlight
issues of concern (e.g. areas of improvement) to help people
respond in an informed way. For revisions to the Authority's
codes of practice, the Authority will normally gauge public
views through focus group discussion with members of the 18-District
Television and Radio Consultative Groups (TRCG)25
and the licensees concerned. If the issue involved in the
revision of the codes may affect a particular sector or group,
in addition to the above, interested parties such as professional
bodies will be consulted.
25 |
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There are about 550 members of
the public on the TRCG. They are recruited from the
18 geographical districts with membership profile matching
the profile of the census population compiled by the
Census and Statistics Department. |
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