From 1st April 2003, the EAA will introduce a Licensee Listing Telephone Enquiry System to provide greater convenience to citizens in recognising licensed practitioners, which in turn helps to facilitate the work of the licensees.

As provided for in the Estate Agents Ordinance, the register of licensees is available for public inspection at the EAA Resource Centre. To enable citizens to access licensee information without having to go to the Resource Centre, the names of the licensees and the numbers and validity periods of their licences are also available on the EAA Website. As a further convenience to the community, the Authority now launches the Licensee Listing Telephone Enquiry System to facilitate the verification of licensee identity through the telephone.

The telephone enquiry system will work like this

• If the licence number is a valid one, then the name and the date of expiry of licence of the licence-holder will be announced to the caller.
• If the name obtained from the telephone enquiry system does not match with the name of the individual who claims to be a licensee, then the caller may ask for explanation or make an enquiry with the EAA.

The system operates around the clock. For further clarification on a matter pertaining to the register of licensees, the enquirer may also choose to talk to a staff member of the EAA on the telephone, or leave a voice message outside office hours, or when the lines are busy.