9.—(1) No person shall advertise, or cause to be advertised, in or using the mass media —
(a)
the address or telephone number of a credit society; or
(b)
an invitation —
(i)
to apply to be a member of a credit society;
(ii)
to borrow from or deposit money with a credit society;
(iii)
to enter into any transaction involving the borrowing of money from, or the provision of any other financial service by, a credit society; or
(iv)
to apply, in any manner as may be specified, to obtain information or advice on any financial service provided or to be provided by a credit society.
(2) Any person who contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000.
(3) In this rule, unless the context otherwise requires —
“mass media”, in relation to a credit society, means —
(a)
any newspaper, magazine, journal or other periodical that is available to the general public, including an electronic version thereof on the World Wide Web;
(b)
any poster, notice, signboard, circular, handbill, brochure, pamphlet, book or other document displayed in a public place, other than any public place —
(i)
that is immediately outside the registered address of the credit society; or
(ii)
that is within the building in which the registered address of the credit society is located; or
(c)
any public broadcasting service or facsimile service,
but does not include the Internet website of the credit society or the apex organisation;
“public place” means any place (open to the air or otherwise) to which the general public have access as of right or by virtue of express or implied permission, whether or not on payment of a fee and whether or not access to the place may be restricted at particular times or for particular purposes.