On 26 June 2020 the Occupational Retirement Schemes (Amendment) Ordinance took effect. It enhances the existing powers under the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (ORSO) to ensure that ORSO schemes regulated under the ordinance are genuinely employment-based retirement schemes. It also looks to improve the governance of the schemes. The new ordinance includes the following requirements:
- Employers of existing ORSO schemes must submit an annual statement to the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) to confirm that the schemes are genuinely employment based.
- For applications for registered or exempted schemes received by the MPFA after the effective date of the new ordinance, applicants must submit an additional statement to prove that their schemes are genuinely employment based. As for applications for exemption certificates, the relevant ORSO schemes must be registered under or approved by the relevant regulators outside Hong Kong whose functions are largely the same as those of the registrar.
- For applications for registered or exempted schemes which are received by the MPFA before the effective date of the new ordinance and are still being processed, the MPFA will process them in accordance with the requirements of the original ordinance.
