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The Government will introduce an amendment to the Schedules 1 and 2 under the Hazardous Chemicals Control Ordinance (Cap. 595) (the Ordinance) into the Legislative Council on June 4 to include five newly-listed hazardous chemicals starting from 2015 in order to strengthen protection of the general public and the environment against the potential health or pollution problems due to exposure to such chemicals.
A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said today (May 30) that the five types of hazardous chemicals to be put on the Schedules will include (i) hexabromobiphenyl, (ii) hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether (commercial octabromodiphenyl ether), (iii) pentachlorobenzene, (iv) tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether (commercial pentabromodiphenyl ether) and (v) perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF).
Under the Ordinance, the manufacture, export, import and use of the listed hazardous chemicals are subject to permit controls.
"Inclusion of the five newly-listed hazardous chemicals will bring Hong Kong in line with the latest revisions to the lists of persistent organic pollutants in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants," the spokesman said.
The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the potentially harmful persistent organic pollutants. In implementing the Convention, the governments will take measures to restrict the production or use of, and to reduce or ultimately eliminate the persistent organic pollutants identified by the United Nations Environmental Programme. The amendment to the Schedules of the Ordinance to include the newly-listed hazardous chemicals is made in response to the amendments of the Annexes to the Stockholm Convention which were effective to the People's Republic of China, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, on March 26.
The control of the newly-listed hazardous chemicals under the Ordinance will take effect from January 1, 2015. Any person found guilty of manufacturing, exporting, importing or using any newly-listed hazardous chemicals without a permit is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for one year.
Ends/Friday, May 30, 2014
Issued at HKT 10:08
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