A draft bill regulating spamming will be tabled at the Legislative Council next year, Hong Kong's Director-General of Telecommunications Au Man-ho said Saturday.

Speaking on a radio talkshow, Au said the legislation will prevent Hong Kong becoming a safe haven for illicit spammers.

The Hong Kong government will discuss the proposal with the trade.

Au said the key is to strike the right balance between the need to discourage spamming and to enable legitimate e-marketing activities to develop properly.

The legislation is about prohibiting "unsolicited electronic messages", such as e-mail, fax, text and multimedia messages. Unsolicited e-mail, fax and machine-generated voice calls cause most of the nuisance presently.

Source: Xinhua