A draft bill regulating spamming will be tabled at the Legislative Council next year, Director-General of Telecommunications Au Man-ho says.

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

The Government will discuss the proposal with the trade. He 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 email, fax, text and multimedia messages. Unsolicited email, fax and machine-generated voice calls cause most of the nuisance presently.