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The following is issued on behalf of the Business Facilitation Advisory Committee Secretariat:
The Business Facilitation Advisory Committee held its 25th meeting today (April 1). The committee noted a letter of appreciation from the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hong Kong for the joint efforts of nine departments in completing a review on the application for outside seating accommodation (OSA) permission by restaurants. The committee chairman, Mr Yu Pang-chun, extended his appreciation to the nine departments involved, namely the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), Fire Services Department, Buildings Department (BD), Lands Department, Planning Department, Housing Department, Transport Department, Home Affairs Department (HAD) and Economic Analysis and Business Facilitation Unit of the Financial Secretary's Office.
The HAD briefed the committee on the Public Consultation on the Enhanced Measures against Shop Front Extensions.
Many of the existing unauthorised signboards are in active use for business operations and their existence carries notable value for contributing to Hong Kong's prosperity. The committee welcomes the introduction of the Validation Scheme for Unauthorised Signboards by BD to rationalise this issue.
The committee also reviewed the work of its three task forces. Some notable progress/developments are:
(a) The Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) briefed the Wholesale and Retail Task Force (WRTF) on the enforcement of the newly amended Trade Descriptions Ordinance which came into effect on July 19, 2013. The WRTF is mainly concerned with the trade description of traditional food items, such as beef tendon balls. The C&ED advises that the question is to what extent the trade description is false or misleading and each case must be determined individually. The WRTF requests the department to consider citing more examples in the Enforcement Guidelines to clarify grey areas for such items;
(b) The WRTF appreciates the efforts of the Department of Health (DH) in developing the Pharmaceutical Licensing Applications and Movement Monitoring System for unregistered drugs. With the new system, the time required for approving a licence will be greatly reduced from two working days to almost immediate. A feature has also been built into the system to enable traders to retrieve the relevant information from the system for the submission of trade declarations as required by the C&ED. This will reduce the administrative burden of traders and minimise human errors of their data input. The new system will be launched tentatively in May 2014;
(c) As a result of streamlining the application processing procedures and upgrading the computer systems, the cost of processing applications for small volume exemption under the Nutrition Labelling Scheme submitted through the Food Import Control System by staff of the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) has been reduced. With effect from March 24, 2014, the fees for new and renewal applications submitted through the system have been reduced from $345 to $265 and from $335 to $250 respectively. The WRTF appreciated the efforts of the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) and CFS in reducing the compliance costs to the trade;
(d) The FHB briefed the Food Business and Related Services Task Force (FRSTF) on the new licensing conditions as stated in the Guidelines on Assessing Liquor Licence Applications, which was promulgated by the Liquor Licensing Board (LLB) on December 1, 2013. The FRSTF notes that other than the vetting criteria which have all along been adopted, the LLB proposes to suitably impose additional licensing conditions in the liquor licence for upstairs bars, namely requiring the licensee to attend the "Seminar on Liquor Licensing", which covers the topics of fire safety, public order and environmental hygiene, and imposes a more stringent capacity limit for their premises having regard to the circumstances. For liquor-licensed premises with serious noise problems, the Board proposes to impose more stringent noise abatement requirements on the liquor licence. These new licensing conditions have been taking effect by phases since December 1, 2013. The trade has no objection to attending the Seminar but has expressed great concern about the other two licensing conditions. The FRSTF requests the Administration to take into account the views of the trade and refine the new licensing conditions as appropriate;
(e) The Working Group on the Review of Application for OSA Permission of Restaurants updated the FRSTF on the implementation progress of its recommendations. Out of the 10 recommendations, two have already been implemented and the rest are making good progress. The FRSTF welcomes the implementation of the two recommendations, which help reduce the overall OSA application processing time. The Task Force also requests the departments concerned to implement the other recommendations as soon as possible;
(f) At a Business Liaison Group (BLG) meeting for cinemas, the trade requested the Administration to review whether the fire safety requirement for traditional projectors was still applicable to digital projectors because the latter apparently had a lower fire risk. In response, the BD advises that the department will consider granting exemption from complying with the fire safety requirement on a case-by-case basis if the trade can provide documentary proof that the proposed digital projectors will not generate hazardous gases, dust or radiation. The BD has also prepared some points to note for the installation of digital projectors in existing or new cinemas to facilitate the trade in applying for the exemption. The Task Force on Business Liaison Groups (BLGTF) appreciates the flexible approach of BD; and
(g) The Leisure and Cultural Services Department recently briefed the trade at a BLG meeting on the introduction of standard application forms for permission of person(s) (a) under the age of 16 years accompanied by parent/instructor/guardian to enter a licensed billiard establishment after 8pm for the purpose of training or competitions; and (b) in school uniform to enter a licensed billiard establishment at any time during the business hours for the purpose of physical education classes, extra-curricular activities or competitions. This measure helps reduce the administrative burden of the trade as it is no longer necessary for them to draft an application letter and provide supplementary information regarding the application. The BLGTF welcomes the business facilitation measure.
The committee was pleased to note that bureaux and departments had sustained their momentum in enhancing their business licensing services under the "Be the Smart Regulator" Programme. Major progress is highlighted below:
(a)¡@With the commencement of the new Companies Ordinance on March 3, 2014, the mandatory requirement for a company to keep a corporate seal has been removed and the legal requirement of preparing a Memorandum of Association to incorporate a company has been abolished. These reforms can further reduce the number of procedures, cost and time of starting a business in Hong Kong;
(b)¡@The Hong Kong Police Force regularly organises licensing seminars for its frontline officers to update them on the latest licensing-related matters. Colleagues from relevant licensing authorities such as the HAD are invited to speak at these seminars in order to help maintain the consistency in interpretation of licensing conditions and enforcement standards across departments;
(c) With effect from November 1, 2013, 31 items of statutory fees, charges and deposits levied by the Official Receiver's Office (ORO) in relation to the provision of bankruptcy and winding-up services have been revised. This generally reduces the fees and charges payable to ORO in the bankruptcy and winding-up proceedings;
(d) The DH has launched Phase IIB of the Electronic Radiation Licensing and Services System, which accepts on-line submission of new, renewal or amendment applications of licences. The system can offer greater convenience to applicants, enabling them to view the progress of applications on-line and make payment of fees through multiple channels. It can also enhance the efficiency of the licencing application process;
(e) The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has revamped its thematic website (www.pets.gov.hk/en_business_main.php) to assist animal traders and other stakeholders in obtaining updated information about animal trading.
Papers for the committee meeting will be available at www.gov.hk/en/business/supportenterprises/bf/advisory/index.htm for public access.
Ends/Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:35
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