Hong Kong’s Labour Department yesterday launched a public consultation on the review of the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies.

The Department disseminated the Code of Practice (CoP) in 2017 by administrative measures to regulate employment agencies with a view to promoting the professionalism and service quality of the industry. The CoP highlights the relevant legislative requirements that agency operators must follow and sets out the minimum standards which the Commissioner for Labour expects from employment agencies.

A spokesman for the Labour Department said, "The CoP has largely been operating smoothly since its promulgation. After reviewing the implementation of the CoP, the Labour Department puts forth preliminary proposals with a view to further improving the relevant requirements.”

The major proposals include, among others, requiring employment agencies to set out in the service agreement the amount of fees charged for each category of services to enhance transparency and protect consumers.

It also proposes explaining clearly to foreign domestic helper job seekers that under the prevailing policy, an application for change of an employer in Hong Kong within the two-year contract period will normally not be approved save for the exceptional circumstances, such that FDHs would understand the consequence of ‘job hopping’. Furthermore, its proposals state that agencies should not provide monetary incentives to foreign domestic helpers in employment to induce the latter to terminate their contracts prematurely.

"We also propose that when submitting applications for licences, employment agencies should provide information on whether they have association with and are sharing the same premises with any financial institutions, so as to prevent employment agencies from colluding with financial institutions to arrange foreign domestic helpers to take out loans,” the spokesperson said.

“In addition, in light of the recommendations made by the Office of The Ombudsman, we propose to require employment agencies to provide basic information on boarding facilities for their foreign domestic helper job seekers,” the spokesperson added. “Employment agencies are required to confirm compliance with relevant legislation and regulations. The Labour Department will revise the CoP after consulting the views of stakeholders."

The consultation period will end on 15 May.