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From today (October 23), the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will upload onto its website for public information details of temporary hawker licences issued for on-street selling of goods for fund raising.
An FEHD spokesman said that information available from its website would include the date, time and location of the approved on-street selling activities and the type of commodities for sale. The information will be updated every Friday.
Both charitable and non-charitable organisations are required to apply for temporary hawker licences from the FEHD in connection with on-street selling activities. The duration should be no longer than one month. In processing the applications, the FEHD will consult relevant departments including the Police, Lands Department, Home Affairs Department or Social Welfare Department.
Charitable organisations which submit applications must provide documentary proof of their tax exemption status under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance.
Non-charitable organisations should be incorporated or registered under the laws of Hong Kong, such as the Companies Ordinance, Societies Ordinance or Trade Unions Ordinance. Documentary proof must be provided.
The FEHD received from charitable organisations 414 and 912 applications respectively in 2008 and from January to September this year. During the period, a total of 258 and 648 temporary hawker licenses respectively were granted.
During the same periods, non-charitable organisations submitted 119 and 126 applications, and 71 and 78 temporary hawker licenses respectively were granted.
"Each application is considered on its own merits. When applications are rejected, common reasons include approval already granted to other organisations for use of the same location, or concerns over crowd control or traffic flow raised by other departments," the spokesman said.
"The FEHD's district hawker control teams will inspect fund-raising activities covered by temporary hawker licences daily to ensure the licence holders comply with licence conditions," he said.
Members of the public can access the website (www.fehd.gov.hk) for information on street sales for fund raising that are covered by temporary hawker licenses. If there is suspicion that on-street sales are conducted without a licence, or if they cause obstruction or environmental problems, they should be reported to the 1823 Call Centre.
"The FEHD will follow up on environmental hygiene complaints in accordance with the Public Health and Municipal Ordinance. Other suspected cases will be followed up by other departments," the spokesman added.
Ends/Friday, October 23, 2009
Issued at HKT 11:33
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