Last year the Hong Kong Stock Exchange launched a public consultation to revisit the main sections of the listing rules for the Growth Enterprise Market of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ("GEM"). The process was concluded in October 2001 with some important changes to the rules.
When GEM was first set up in July 1999, the SFC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange intended to conduct an overall review of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on GEM (the "GEM Rules") in six months’ time. However, the market soon found that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was in practice prepared in many cases to waive the requirements of the GEM Rules. The regulators decided to review the GEM Rules ahead of time and to regularise the granting of such waivers.
