The Complaint Review Committee (CRC) is an independent committee established under the Jewelry Retail Business Code of Practice (the Code) and is responsible for enforcing the Code

The Code of Practice for the Jewellry Retail Industry is jointly published by the Consumer Council (CC) and the Jewellers’ and Goldsmiths’ Association of Hong Kong Limited (the Association) as a self-regulatory measure for the jewelry retail industry, allowing voluntary participation by industry members. The Code sets basic service standards for Hong Kong’s jewelry retail sector, promoting good business practices and fair market competition. Jewelers wishing to adopt the Code must first obtain consent from the Association.
The purpose of establishing the Complaint Review Committee (CRC) is to monitor retailers’ compliance with the Code and to implement effective mechanisms for handling consumer complaints. Additionally, the CRC assists retailers in listening to consumer feedback. Providing consumers with a quick and convenient way to inquire about and resolve their complaints helps build customer loyalty and allows retailers to identify areas for improvement. This proactive approach prevents recurring issues from affecting their reputation and ultimately enhances service quality.
The Association and Consumer Council will periodically review the CRC’s operations and effectiveness, as well as consumer satisfaction and feedback regarding its complaint handling and decisions, in order to improve its functionality and performance.

Complaint handling

During complaint handling, the identity of the complainant is kept confidential. The Complaints Review Committee would take measures to protect the confidential information involved in the complaint to ensure that the relevant confidential information is only used for handling the complaint. To prevent compromises to the confidential information, access to such is prohibited unless authorised by the Complaints Review Committee.

The primary principle of the complaint handling mechanism is fairness, which gives both parties the reasonable opportunity to present the case, to listen to and to respond to the points raised by the opposite party. While the consumer raising the complaint does not have to be represented by a solicitor, it is also unnecessary to stop them from being represented by a solicitor or other persons. When conducting the review, the Complaints Review Committee would ensure that all the members of the company under complaint and other persons affected by the review outcomes would all have a chance to express their views regarding the review.

If the complaint handling involves third-party fees that are unavoidable or require payment by the complainant, such as testing or authentication service fees, the Complaints Review Committee should first inform and obtain approval from the complainant before proceeding.

The Complaints Review Committee has established a duty member system, in which three duty members are in charge of each quarter. There are at least two non-trade members (including the chairperson) and one trade member to handle complaint cases of their quarter. This could prevent the need for all committee members to be present at each meeting and minimise the administration work and burden of the Complaints Review Committee and the Association. The Complaints Review Committee would decide on the number of meetings to convene based on the number of complaints received. The Complaints Review Committee would also decide whether it needs to invite other committee members and professionals to attend and offer relevant opinions based on the types of complaint items received, such as method of sales, quality authentication, service quality, etc. However, the voting rights are only enjoyed by members of the Complaints Review Committee. Complaints are handled at the meeting by duty members. The number of the non-trade members (including the chairperson) presents at each meeting shall be greater than that of the trade members.

To prevent waste of resources on reviewing unsubstantiated or trivial complaints, the Complaints Review Committee has rules in place to prevent abuse of the complaint mechanism. The Complaints Review Committee would make clear and explain the reasons for not following up a complaint. To enhance the transparency and credibility of the mechanism, the Complaints Review Committee has the right to report anonymously its decisions on the review outcomes and on not to follow up a complaint in the publications of members’ communications of the Association, and to publicise such on the website of the Association as a way to educate the public. These would be done in a manner that no information of the complainant and the company under complaint (including the name of the company, the company’s address, the names of the complainant or the person-in-charge / shop clerk of the company, etc.) is disclosed.

Penalty

For a case decided to be violating the Code, the Complaints Review Committee can take out the necessary actions based on the Constitution, including:

• Requesting the company to stop or prohibiting it from conducting the violation behaviour investigated by the Complaints Review Committee;
• Requesting the company to implement remedial measures;
• The company may be required to conduct training events to educate its staff such that the staff understands the decision of the Complaints Review Committee regarding violation of good practices, as well as the idea of promoting competition;
• The company may be required to bear the fees incurred by the Complaints Review Committee during the investigation period, (including but not limited to the third-party fees already paid by the complainant, e.g. testing or authentication service fees); and/or
  
• Should the company under complaint fail to comply with the decision of the Complaints Review Committee, the Complaints Review Committee could consider the level of penalty based on the severity of the breach behaviours as well as the past records of the company. This may include suggesting to the Association to disqualify the company from the list of members bearing the accredited certification mark of the Code, and to immediately return the certification mark to the Association for cancellation.

Duty members of the Complaints Review Committee

Should the chairperson be absent, the chair shall be filled by a non-trade member attending the meeting, and a non-trade member of the next meeting shall fill the acting chairperson’s position as a non-trade member.

TELEPHONE：(852) 2877 1022

EMAIL：cpjrcomplaint@gmail.com