Press notices required to be published in the newspapers must be made in traditional newspapers published in printed form
Regulatory
15 Mar 2001
The Listing Rules of the Main Board require in many cases issuers to make press notices which must be "published in the newspapers".
"Published in the newspapers" is defined in Chapter One of the Listing Rules of the Main Board as:-
"published as a paid advertisement in English in at least one English language newspaper and in Chinese in at least one Chinese language newspaper, being in each case a newspaper published daily and circulating generally in Hong Kong and specified in the list of newspapers issued and published in the Gazette for the purposes of section 71A of the Companies Ordinance by the Secretary for Administrative Services and Information".
The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that important company news is made available in a medium of communication that is readily accessible to all sectors of the investing public in Hong Kong.
The Exchange is aware of the growing popularity and accessibility of the electronic medium. In this connection, the Exchange issued a market consultation paper last year to seek the market's view on a proposal that would make use of the Internet in the dissemination of information on listed companies for the purpose of the Listing Rules. The Exchange received a large number of responses and expects to announce a new policy in this regard fairly shortly. However, the formulation of such a new policy requires due process and, until such time as the Exchange considers electronically disseminated information to be a suitable replacement for traditional newspaper advertisements, publication of notices pursuant to the Listing Rules of the Main Board is still required to be in the form of a "paid advertisement in English in at least one English language newspaper and in Chinese in at least one Chinese language newspaper" for the purpose of which only traditional newspapers published in printed form are considered appropriate. Provided this minimum requirement is satisfied, an issuer may choose, for the sake of even wider dissemination, to make available the same information through an additional medium.