Hong Kong Ordinances

UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MESSAGES ORDINANCE - SECT 16

Acquisition of address-harvesting software or harvested-address list

(1) No person shall acquire—

   (a)  address-harvesting software;

   (b)  a right to use address-harvesting software;

   (c)  a harvested-address list; or

   (d)  a right to use a harvested-address list, for use in connection with,
        or to facilitate, the sending of commercial  electronic messages that
        have a Hong Kong link without the consent of the registered users of
        the electronic addresses to which they are sent.

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable
on summary conviction to a fine at level 6.

(3) A person who knowingly contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and
is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine of $1000000 and to
imprisonment for 5 years.

(4) It is a defence to a charge for an offence under subsection (2) for the
person charged to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised
all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.