The ICAC and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong (CGCC) today (August 8) co-hosted the launching ceremony of the Business Sector Integrity Charter (the Charter), calling on corporate members of the CGCC to adopt the Integrity Management System (IMS) for enhancing business ethics to build a clean business environment contributing to the high-quality development of the country.

Deputy Secretary for Justice, Mr Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan; ICAC Commissioner, Mr Woo Ying-ming; and Chairman of the CGCC, Dr Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, today officiated at the launching ceremony of the Charter and presented statements of commitment to the first batch of CGCC corporate members which pledged to promote good governance.

Addressing the ceremony, Woo expounded on the significance of the ICAC’s collaboration with the CGCC in promoting the Charter by using three homophones of the Chinese character “integrity”. Woo said, “The High-Level Principles on Belt and Road Integrity Building introduced by the country encourage public-private partnership between government and enterprises in preventing and combatting corruption as well as strengthening business ethics. By collaborating with chambers of commerce, the ICAC launches the Charter to dovetail with the policy of the country. The Charter assists enterprises to complement national policy and to tell the good stories of Hong Kong by promulgating its clean business environment.”

Woo also noted that the Charter could serve as a sturdy wall to help enterprises guard against corruption and illegalities, safeguard hard-earn profit and reputation, and enhance their ESG (environmental, social, and governance) performances. The ICAC had the pleasure of joining hands with the CGCC to promote integrity building in the business sector.

Speaking at the ceremony, Cheung remarked that the “golden reputation” of Hong Kong’s rule of law had created a stable, fair, transparent, and predictable business environment for enterprises to better integrate into our country’s overall development. Not only would integrity and compliance with regulations provide fundamental safeguards for steadfast success of enterprises, they would also be pivotal to enhancing global competitiveness. The collaboration between the ICAC and the CGCC in promoting the Charter could strengthen and enhance the mechanism of managing integrity in the business sector, enabling enterprises to fully leverage on Hong Kong’s unique advantages under the “One Country, Two Systems” to proactively participate in the high-quality development of the country.

Choi praised the ICAC’s “golden reputation” for safeguarding Hong Kong’s core value of integrity, noting that the collaboration between the ICAC and the CGCC in promoting the Charter could generate tremendous synergy and countless business opportunities. He encouraged CGCC corporate members to actively subscribe to the Charter for propagating the anti-graft drive during the course of augmenting productivity and bolstering competitiveness.

“The CGCC is delighted to partner with the ICAC to promote the Charter on the 50th anniversary of the Commission. The two parties will join hands to elevate integrity management and anti-corruption capabilities of the business sector, thereby uplifting global investor confidence in local enterprises and fulfil Hong Kong’s role as the ‘super connector’ and ‘super value-adder’ of the country,” Choi added.

The Charter encourages enterprises to adopt the IMS. Enterprises joining the Charter are required to appoint an “Integrity Officer” to assist in implementing and monitoring the enterprise’s integrity policies and corporate governance, and commit to executing integrity policies and participating in integrity training. The ICAC will provide comprehensive support to participating enterprises, including assisting them in formulating integrity policies, providing corruption prevention advice and integrity training, etc. to improve their integrity management and anti-corruption capabilities.