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Following is a question by the Hon Steven Ho Chun-yin and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (October 9):
Question:
According to section 104A of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, any person displaying or affixing a bill or poster (including displaying roadside publicity materials) on government land without the written permission of the Authority commits an offence. Recently, some members of the public have complained to me that very often a large number of banners have been illegally hung by various bodies on the roadside railings at busy road sections with heavy pedestrian flows (including those in major business districts, popular tourist spots and traffic hubs), which obstruct the view of motorists and distract their attention, thus posing hazards to road safety. In addition, some of the banners have been damaged or loosened with the passage of time, causing obstruction to pedestrians and vehicles, as well as affecting the streetscape. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in the past three years regarding illegal hanging of banners; details of the law enforcement actions taken by the authorities (including the numbers of inspections conducted, illegal banners removed, and prosecutions instituted against the persons concerned, and the total amount of fines imposed on the persons concerned);
(b) whether the authorities have considered compiling a list of black spots at which banners have been illegally hung, so as to facilitate targeted inspections and law enforcement actions; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) given that some members of the public have pointed out that in recent years, some people often hang anonymous or impersonated banners containing defamatory contents in public places when the patrol staff of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department are off duty, of the number of such complaints received in the past three years and the follow-up actions taken by the authorities?
Reply:
President,
The Lands Department (LandsD) started the "Management Scheme for the Display of Roadside Non-commercial Publicity Materials" (Management Scheme) in 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 members of the Legislative Council and District Councils (DCs), DCs and their committees, as well as non-profit-making organisations for the purpose of promoting/publicising activities that are non-commercial in nature 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 the LandsD are authorised by the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene 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). For the display of publicity materials that is verified by the LandsD as being unauthorised or non-compliant with the Implementation Guidelines, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will remove the publicity materials and recover the removal costs from the parties concerned under section 104C(1) of the above Ordinance.
The FEHD conducts joint operations with the LandsD regularly to remove publicity materials the display of which is unauthorised or non-compliant with the Implementation Guidelines, as well as those which are loosened and may impede pedestrian and vehicular movements. 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 owners of the publicity materials or the persons who may benefit from the display of them, having regard to the circumstances of each case and the relevant law.
In cases where FEHD staff come across any commercial publicity materials (including banners) that are displayed without permission, the Department will remove such materials immediately. FEHD officers will consider instituting prosecution against anyone who is found putting up commercial publicity materials or banners at the scene and, subject to the availability of adequate evidence (from sources including the information shown on the publicity materials), anyone who may benefit from the display of such publicity materials. Moreover, a new measure has been adopted by the FEHD since March 2011 to issue, under the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance (Cap. 570), $1,500 fixed penalty notices to offenders who display publicity materials in public places without permission, including those displayed on easy-mount frames.
My reply to the question is as follows:
(a) The number of complaints received by the FEHD against unauthorised display of publicity materials and the incidence of enforcement actions taken in the past three years are set out below.
For 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August), the number of complaints about unauthorised display of publicity materials in public places was 3 399; 3 651; and 2 823 respectively.
The number of publicity materials removed by the FEHD in 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August) was 3 410 967; 3 340 171; and 2 140 014 respectively.
The number of cases involving enforcement actions taken against unauthorised display of publicity materials in public places by the FEHD was 3 315; 4 492; and 4 042 respectively for 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August).
The enforcement statistics comprise the following:
The number of prosecutions against unauthorised display of publicity materials in public places was 112; 84; and 95 respectively for 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August).
The number of prosecutions against obstruction of public places by the display of unauthorised publicity materials was 1 487; 2 845; and 2 948 respectively in 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August).
The number of $1,500 fixed penalty notices was 1 716; 1 563; and 999 respectively in 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August).
The FEHD does not keep separate statistics on the number of inspections.
(b) The FEHD will take enforcement actions and determine the locations of joint operations with the LandsD, having regard to the circumstances of the respective districts, including complaints received about unauthorised display of publicity materials, findings during inspections, as well as the views of the DCs.
(c) Over the past three years, the FEHD has not received any complaints about unauthorised display of banners containing messages that are defamatory. The FEHD will continue to handle all cases involving unauthorised display of publicity materials in accordance with the Management Scheme and the relevant legislation.
Ends/Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:14
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