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The Air Pollution Control (Amendment) Ordinance 2014 (the Amendment Ordinance), which seeks to ban the import, transhipment, supply and use of all forms of asbestos so as to further protect public health, will take effect tomorrow (April 4).
"The Amendment Ordinance will further reduce the risk of public exposure to environmental asbestos by extending the ban on the import and sale of the more hazardous amosite and crocidolite, which was introduced under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance (APCO) in 1996, to all forms of asbestos. In addition, except for goods in transit and registered proprietary Chinese medicine, the import, transhipment, supply and use of all forms of asbestos will be banned to prevent asbestos from entering Hong Kong. Related amendments will also be made to the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Asbestos) Regulation to ban works with any type of asbestos in industrial undertakings," said a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department.
To prevent the release of asbestos fibres into the surrounding environment, the APCO has already required asbestos abatement works and related activities to be conducted by registered asbestos professionals in accordance with the requirements of the APCO and the codes of practice on asbestos control.
Ends/Thursday, April 3, 2014
Issued at HKT 11:30
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