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Following is a question by the Hon Chan Chi-chuen and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (January 9):
Question:
Any person who displays roadside publicity materials without the written permission of the Authority granted under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance commits an offence. Moreover, the Management Scheme for the Display of Roadside Non-commercial Publicity Materials Implementation Guidelines provide that the display of publicity materials at central dividers of roads, pedestrian crossings and within 30 metres of traffic upstream side of road junctions is prohibited. Nevertheless, quite a number of members of the public have complained to me that a large number of banners were hung by organisations professing love for the motherland and Hong Kong on the streets in Yau Tsim Mong District in recent months, and some of them were even hung in the no banner zones. These members of the public have lodged complaints with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), but FEHD has neither instituted prosecution against the persons concerned nor removed such banners. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) apart from the banners removed for the general elections of the Legislative Council and District Councils, of the number of unauthorised banners displayed on the streets which were removed by the authorities in the past three years, and the total amount of fines imposed on the persons concerned;
(b) whether, in the last half-year, the authorities had received and approved applications for hanging the aforesaid banners; if so, of the details; if approval had not been given, the reasons for the authorities not removing the banners and instituting prosecutions; and
(c) whether measures are in place at present to prevent the situation of a large number of unauthorised banners being displayed on the streets or such a situation from worsening?
Reply:
President,
The Lands Department (LandsD) has implemented the "Management Scheme for the Display of Roadside Non-commercial Publicity Materials" (Management Scheme) since May 2003 to manage the display of non-commercial publicity materials on the roadside, and made revisions to the "Implementation Guidelines" of the Management Scheme in August 2011. The non-commercial publicity materials in question are usually displayed by non-profit-making organisations, District Councils and their committees, as well as members of the Legislative Council and District Councils, etc. for the purpose of promoting/publicising activities that are non-commercial or of interest to the public, and disseminating information that is of general interest or use to the public.
For the purpose of implementing the Management Scheme, some officers in LandsD are authorised to give permission for the display of roadside non-commercial publicity materials under Section 104A(1)(b) of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), exercising authority delegated from the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene. For the display of publicity materials that is verified by LandsD as being unauthorised or non-compliant with the Implementation Guidelines, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will remove them and recover the removal costs from the parties concerned under Section 104C(1) of the above Ordinance.
FEHD conducts joint operations with LandsD regularly to remove publicity materials the display of which is unauthorised or non-compliant with the Implementation Guidelines. For cases involving unauthorised display of non-commercial publicity materials, the Government will, apart from recovering the removal costs from the persons concerned, decide whether to prosecute the persons who are the owners of or will benefit from such publicity materials, having regard to the circumstances of each case and the relevant law.
My reply to the question is as follows:
(a) The following number of non-commercial publicity materials were removed in the past three years (excluding those pertaining to the general elections of the Legislative Council and District Councils): 6 355 in 2010; 5 768 in 2011; and 2 189 in 2012 (January to November). The removal costs recovered from the persons concerned amounted to $275,044 in 2010; $384,527 in 2011; and $232,158 in 2012(January to November).
(b) and (c) As regards the complaints about the large number of suspected unauthorised banners which appeared on the streets in Yau Tsim Mong District in recent months, FEHD's investigations revealed that this was stemming from the putting up of banners by two organisations to express their views in public areas. Records of the respective district lands offices of LandsD showed that these banners were displayed without the requisite permission of the lands offices. FEHD has reminded the persons-in-charge at the scene to take note of the relevant provisions laid down in the Management Scheme and the legislation. As regards cases where the manner in which the organisations displayed the banners might pose safety concerns to pedestrians and motorists using the road concerned, FEHD has referred them to the Police for follow-up action. FEHD and the relevant departments will continue to keep in view the situation and follow up as appropriate. Where necessary, we would take prosecution action.
Thank you.
Ends/Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:54
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