To prohibit certain practices relating to sales purporting to be sales by auction.
[25 April 1975]
(Format changes—E.R. 5 of 2022)
This Ordinance may be cited as the Mock Auctions Ordinance.
In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires—
competitive bidding (競投) includes any mode of sale by which prospective purchasers can compete for the purchase of articles, whether by way of increasing bids or by the offer of articles to be bid for at successively decreasing prices or otherwise; lot (批貨) means a lot consisting of or including one or more prescribed articles; prescribed article (訂明物品) means any article belonging to a class of article specified in the Schedule; sale of goods by way of competitive bidding (以競投方式售賣貨品) means any sale of goods at which the persons present, or some of them, are invited to buy articles by way of competitive bidding; stated (述明), in relation to a sale of goods by way of competitive bidding, means stated by or on behalf of the person conducting the sale, by an announcement made to the persons for the time being present at the sale.For the purposes of this Ordinance—
any bid stated to have been made at a sale of goods by way of competitive bidding shall be conclusively presumed to have been made, and to have been a bid of the amount stated;
any reference in this Ordinance to the sale of a lot to a person who has made a bid for it includes a reference to a purported sale of it to a person stated to have bid for it, whether that person exists or not; and
any thing done in or about the place where a sale of goods by way of competitive bidding is held, if done in connection with the sale, shall be taken to be done during the course of the sale, whether it is done at the time when any articles are being sold or offered for sale by way of competitive bidding or before or after any such time.
[cf. 1961 c. 47 s. 3 U.K.]
Any person who promotes or conducts, or assists in the promotion or conduct of, a mock auction at which one or more lots are sold or offered for sale shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine at level 4 and to imprisonment for 5 years. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2022)
Subject to subsection (3), for the purposes of this Ordinance a sale of goods by way of competitive bidding shall be taken to be a mock auction if, during the course of the sale,—
any lot is sold to a person bidding for it, and—
the lot is sold to him at a price lower than the amount of his highest bid for it;
the whole or any part of the price at which the lot was sold is subsequently refunded or credited to him or his nominee; or
the money, or any part of the money, used to pay for the lot has been provided by the person promoting or conducting the sale or by any person assisting him;
the right to bid for any lot is restricted, or is stated to be restricted, to persons who have bought or agreed to buy one or more articles;
any articles are given away or are offered as gifts; or
any lot placed or wrapped in an opaque container or wrapper is sold or offered for sale without the contents of the container or wrapper being disclosed.
A sale of goods shall not be taken to be a mock auction by virtue of subsection (2)(a), if it is proved that the reduction in price, or the refund or the credit, as the case may be,—
was on account of a defect discovered after the highest price in question had been made, being a defect of which the person conducting the sale was unaware when that bid was made; or
was on account of damage sustained after the bid was made.
A sale of goods shall not be taken to be a mock auction by virtue of subsection (2) if the sale is held by or for the purposes of any trust or organization which is a charity within the meaning of section 2 of the Registered Trustees Incorporation Ordinance (Cap. 306).
In any proceedings for an offence of assisting in the promotion or conduct of a mock auction, the accused shall have a good defence if he satisfies the court that, although he did the act in question, he did not know, and had no reason to believe, that the sale of goods by way of competitive bidding to which the charge relates was a mock auction.
[cf. 1961 c. 47 s. 1 U.K.]
A person who promotes or conducts a mock auction in contravention of section 3 shall, in addition to any liability he may incur under that section, be liable to pay compensation by way of damages to any person who has sustained pecuniary loss as a result of having purchased any prescribed article at the mock auction.
An action may be brought under subsection (1) in respect of a contravention referred to in that subsection notwithstanding that no person has been charged or convicted under section 3 in respect of the contravention.
Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 3, an order for the payment of compensation may be made under section 73 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) or section 98 of the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap. 227), as the case may be, and those sections shall apply accordingly.
If an action is brought under subsection (1) after an order has been made under section 73 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) or section 98 of the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap. 227), the court shall, if it decides to award damages, take into consideration the amount of compensation awarded under the order.
Nothing in this section limits or diminishes any liability which any person may incur under the common law.
The Chief Executive may, by order published in the Gazette, amend the Schedule.
(Amended 71 of 1999 s. 3)
Any plate or plated articles
Linen or articles of clothing
Pictures or prints
China, glassware or antiques
Items of furniture
Items of jewellery
Household appliances and utensils
Electrical appliances and equipment
Articles of personal use or ornament
Ornaments and musical instruments
Any scientific instrument or apparatus
(Amended E.R. 5 of 2022)