Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) on Friday published consultation papers on delisting and other rule amendments to improve market quality.

The deadline for responses is Nov. 24.

Under the Main Board Listing Rules, a separate delisting criterion should be added to allow the exchange to delist an issuer after its continuous suspension for a prescribed period, proposed to be 12, 18 or 24 months, according to the consultation paper.

Under the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) Listing Rules, a separate delisting criterion should be added to allow the exchange to delist an issuer after its continuous suspension for a prescribed period, proposed to be six or 12 months, it said.

"After adopting a more robust delisting policy to address concerns about a number of long suspended issuers, we are proposing changes to the delisting framework to facilitate efficient and orderly exits of poor quality issuers and provide certainty to the market on the delisting process, bringing our practice more in line with other major markets," said David Graham, HKEX's Chief Regulatory Officer and Head of Listing.

HKEX proposes to introduce targeted measures in the rules to address potential abuses related to large scale deeply discounted capital raising activities.

The consultation paper also contains proposals to address specific issues concerning other capital raising and share issuance transactions.