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Following is a question by the Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (April 1):
Question:
It is learnt that the inflow of spurious pharmaceutical products into the market of Hong Kong occurs from time to time, and that taking spurious pharmaceutical products not only denies the patients appropriate treatment, but more seriously, it may also cause lowered immunity, permanent damage to organs or even death. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective quantities of various pharmaceutical products involved in detected cases of manufacturing, importing, exporting and selling spurious pharmaceutical products in each of the past five years, as well as the penalty imposed for each convicted case;
(b) whether it knows the number of cases, in each of the past five years, of members of the public receiving treatment in public hospitals for disorders after taking spurious pharmaceutical products and, among such cases, the number of those resulting in deaths;
(c) whether it had assessed in the past two years if the existing monitoring system can effectively combat the sale and import activities of spurious pharmaceutical products; if it had, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) whether it has considered increasing the penalties for manufacturing, selling and importing spurious pharmaceutical products, so as to strengthen their deterrent effect; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) Statistical data on seizure of spurious Chinese and western medicines by the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) in the past five years and the penalties imposed under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance by the court are set out in Annex.
(b) The Department of Health (DH) will follow up on cases of hospitalisation and death caused by adverse reactions as a result of taking Chinese or western medicine. In the past five years, there is no evidence to suggest that there were cases of hospitalisation or deaths caused by taking spurious Chinese or western medicine.
(c) The C&ED has all along taken strenuous efforts to combat the sale of counterfeit goods in order to protect intellectual property rights, as well as the interests of the trades and the consumers. Since spurious medicines may be hazardous to public health, the C&ED will give priority to deal with such cases.
When goods enter or leave Hong Kong, the C&ED will, by way of risk management and after intelligence analysis, carry out spot checks on the goods to combat the import, export and re-export activities of spurious medicines. In addition, the C&ED has been in close liaison with the pharmaceutical manufacturers and trademark proprietors to monitor the market situation, and will take prompt enforcement actions against those stores which are in violation of the law. Furthermore, the C&ED and DH also work in close collaboration. Apart from intelligence sharing, they carry out joint operations to combat the retail sale of spurious medicines. A recent joint operation was carried out on March 27, 2009. Six people were arrested in the operation.
For protection of public health, the packaging, sale, sales outlets and sales practices of western medicines are subject to the regulation of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance and its subsidiary legislation. Anyone who is found selling pharmaceutical products which have not been registered with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board is liable on conviction to a maximum penalty of a fine of HK$100,000 and to imprisonment for 24 months. Convicted drug traders may also be subject to disciplinary inquiries by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, which may even lead to the revocation of their licences.
Upon the full implementation of the provisions governing the registration of proprietary Chinese medicines under the Chinese Medicine Ordinance, the sale, import and possession of unregistered proprietary Chinese medicines (including those manufactured locally or those manufactured outside Hong Kong and imported into Hong Kong for sale) shall not be allowed in Hong Kong. A label shall be attached to the package of registered proprietary Chinese medicines to state clearly, among other things, the name of the medicine, its main active ingredients, the place of manufacture, the registration number on the certificate of registration and the name of the holder of the certificate.
In addition, the Practising Guidelines for Wholesalers of Proprietary Chinese Medicines promulgated by the Chinese Medicines Board (CMB) of the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong prohibits wholesalers from engaging in the dealing of proprietary Chinese medicines suspected to be counterfeit products. The CMB may take disciplinary actions against non-complying Chinese medicines traders, including issuing warnings to them, varying the conditions or restrictions of their licences, and revoking or cancelling their licences.
(d) The C&ED is responsible for taking enforcement actions under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, which provides that any person who imports, exports, sells or manufactures goods to which a forged trademark is applied commits an offence. Cases involving spurious medicines will be brought before a Magistrate's court for trial and upon summary conviction, a fine of HK$100,000 and imprisonment for two years may be imposed.
For serious cases, the C&ED can, after consulting the Department of Justice, transfer the cases to the District Court for trial and upon conviction on indictment, a maximum penalty of a fine of HK$500,000 and imprisonment for five years will be imposed.
Ends/Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:36
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