FAQ

We handle complaints about:

• maladministration involving Government departments and about 30 public bodies, excluding the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force, the Hong Kong Police Force (“Police”), the Independent Commission Against Corruption (“ICAC”) and the Secretariat of the Public Service Commission; and
• non-compliance with the Code on Access to Information involving all Government departments, including the Police and ICAC.

You can make a complaint to us by online complaint form, in writing, in person, or by our telephone write-up service.

We offer this service to people with special needs. If you cannot properly express your complaint in writing, your complaint is simple and fairly self-evident, involves not more than two organisations under complaint, and can be explained in less than 15 minutes, you may ask for this service.

We shall record the telephone conversation, fill in a complaint form for you and post it to you for verification. We will process your complaint upon receipt of your signed complaint form and a copy of your Hong Kong Identity Card or Passport (page with photo). The relevant audio record will be deleted three months after the date of the telephone write-up.

To ensure quality of service, the telephone conversations between you and our hotline staff will be recorded. Recordings made will be managed in accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.

It is incumbent on Government departments/public organisations to monitor and respond to feedback on their services. Usually, they have dedicated complaint channels for this. Very often, the problem can be resolved quickly if you approach them directly. However, if the matter remains unresolved, you are welcome to contact us.

Details of the complaint

• Which organisation(s) do you complain against?
• What happened? When and where?
• Injustice that you have sustained as a result of the alleged maladministration of the organisation(s) concerned
• Name(s) and rank(s) of the staff concerned, if any
• Relevant documents, such as copies of correspondence with the organisation(s) concerned, photos, and audio or video recordings

Personal data

• Full name as in your Hong Kong Identity Card or Passport

[For body corporate, organisation name as in Certificate of Incorporation/Registration]

• Copy of Hong Kong Identity Card or Passport (page with photo)

[For body corporate, a copy of the Certificate of Incorporation/Registration]

• Postal address
• Other contact details (as far as possible), such as telephone number and email address

Reply form for lodging a complaint

• Whether you are an individual complainant or an authorised representative for a body corporate, you will need to sign a reply form to acknowledge that you have read and understand the important notes for lodging a complaint

Specific documents for a body corporate

• A letter of authorisation, stamped with its official chop and duly signed by a Director/person-in-charge, specifying the name and post of the representative to lodge a complaint on its behalf

Pursuant to The Ombudsman Ordinance, we shall not undertake or continue an investigation into a complaint if the complainant is anonymous, or cannot be identified or traced. To facilitate our verification of your identity and traceability, please provide us with your full name, a copy of your Hong Kong Identity Card or Passport (page with photo) and your postal address. You may be invited to attend this Office to produce the original of your identity document for verification, where necessary. Instead of providing a copy of your identity document, you may attend this Office to show your original identity document. We will record the name and number on your identity document for filing.

We investigate complaints about maladministration by Government departments and public organisations. Complainants should fulfil the requirements set out in The Ombudsman Ordinance, regardless of the details and nature of their complaints.

Normally, upon completion of your complaint case, we will destroy the copy of your identity document at once (unless there is a need for retention in the handling of the complaint).  Record of your identity information would be destroyed after a certain period in accordance with our current policy on record management.

All of our staff and advisers are bound by The Ombudsman Ordinance (unless in specified exceptional circumstances), under the penalty of a fine and imprisonment, to maintain secrecy on all matters that come to our knowledge in the exercise and execution of our functions.

For the purpose of processing your complaint, we will, after obtaining your consent, forward the complaint details(including your personal data) to the parties concerned. You may refuse to give us consent to disclose certain personal data or complaint information. However, depending on the nature of your complaint, we may not be able to process it fully or at all.

When you represent a body corporate to file a complaint with us, you need to provide an authorisation document duly signed by the authorised person of the company/organisation and containing the official chop. For verifying the identity of a body corporate, we may accept certificates issued under the law of Hong Kong (e.g. Business Registration Certificate, Certificate of Incorporation, Certificate of Registration of a Society, etc.).

Under The Ombudsman Ordinance, we can only handle complaints lodged by the individuals personally aggrieved (or “aggrieved persons”), unless the aggrieved persons are unable to act for themselves.

If you wish to complain for somebody else, apart from a proper written authorisation by the aggrieved person concerned, please explain why the aggrieved person cannot complain to us direct and your relationship with him/her.  We will consider whether to accept your complaint on behalf of the aggrieved person. You may be asked to produce relevant document(s) where necessary.

We will first assess whether your complaint comes within our jurisdiction and is pursuable. Our Assessment Team will notify you in writing within 15 working days if we cannot handle your complaint due to jurisdictional restrictions. If the complaint is pursuable, our Investigation Team will follow up with you accordingly. Upon collecting all complaint details from you, our processing time generally takes three to six months. We will then give you a substantive reply.

Yes, we may decide not to pursue a complaint if it falls outside our jurisdiction or if we are restricted from pursuing it under the law. Please take a look at What We Oversee and Who We Oversee before you make a complaint.

We explore handling suitable cases by mediation first for a speedy and effective resolution, resulting in a win-win situation.

If a complaint is complex, especially if it involves issues of principle, systemic flaws, gross injustice or serious maladministration, a full investigation may be warranted. On the other hand, we may also initiate direct investigation operations into areas of suspected maladministration in the absence of complaint. Such investigations usually involve systemic problems or issues of a macro magnitude, which are of significant public interest and concern.

We will not pursue a complaint if the action or decision is based purely on professional judgement. If the action or decision also involves administrative actions or decisions, in which case the administrative aspect can be investigated.

We usually do not investigate complaints about actions taken fully in line with a policy which is made with proper authority following a due process. But if grave injustice appears to be involved in a policy, we may conduct an investigation and may urge the organisation concerned to conduct a review if the policy appears to be outdated.

We may, in the public interest, publish both the full investigation and direct investigation reports on our website. Selected Code on Access to Information-related complaint cases may also be published. However, we will not disclose the identity of the complainant, the aggrieved person and the officer(s) of the organisation(s) involved in the complaint.

It depends on the results of investigation. We may make recommendations to the Government department/public body concerned, such as tendering an apology, implementing remedial measures to solve the problem, introducing improvement measures for better public administration, etc.

Unlike court verdicts, our recommendations are not binding. Nevertheless, after making recommendations in our investigation reports, we will follow up regularly on the progress of implementation by the organisations concerned. Where an organisation refuses to accept, or fails to implement or act adequately on any recommendation, we may submit a report to the Chief Executive.

No, we cannot, as changes to The Ombudsman Ordinance, including our jurisdiction, have to be initiated by the Government and approved by relevant authorities.

If you are not satisfied with our conclusions or findings, you are entitled to request a review of your complaint by providing justifications in writing within 6 months upon receipt of our reply. If you fail to meet this time frame, you should explain why you have not raised the request within 6 months for our consideration. Normally, each complaint case will only be re-assessed or reviewed once. Apart from requesting our review, you may also apply to the court for a judicial review of The Ombudsman’s decision. However, you should better seek legal advice before considering whether or not to do so.

You should write to the Chief Manager of our Administration and Development Division about what you are not satisfied with our work or our staff. The Administration and Development Division will launch an independent inquiry into such complaints. However, if the complaints are caused by your dissatisfaction with the findings or conclusions of our complaint investigation, it would be more appropriate for the Investigation Team to follow up. All re-assessment/review decisions will be approved by The Ombudsman or her authorised staff at the directorate level.

Regardless of your nationality or whether you are a Hong Kong permanent resident, as long as you are personally aggrieved by any maladministration by Government departments/public organisations under our purview, you may lodge a complaint with us.