Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau says the government may soon launch a new public consultation on possible new legislation to regulate prepayments for various consumer services – in the wake of a series of business closures that left many out of pocket.

Authorities have received thousands of complaints involving millions of dollars over such closures – with firms such as gym chain Physical Fitness and medical services firm Alliance Medical Group suddenly going out of business over the past year.

Speaking in an interview with RTHK, Yau said authorities are eyeing a public consultation sometime this year to explore legislation to better protect consumers.

"The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau is aware of recent business closures, and hopes to consult the public again over a cooling-off period for advance-payment consumption and collect views,” he said.

“The most important thing is to strike a balance between safeguarding the interests of consumers while taking into account the business difficulties faced by the industry... We’ll launch an appropriate consultation, and hopefully we can do this in the second half of this year,” he said.

The government previously initiated a similar public consultation in 2019, but was later shelved due to protests and the Covid pandemic.