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The Government today (December 31) gazetted the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2015 to introduce a fixed penalty system as an additional legal tool to tackle the problem of shop front extensions (SFE).
The Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council (LegCo) for first and second reading on January 6 next year. The proposed fixed penalty level will be set at $1,500. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Hong Kong Police Force will be empowered to enforce the proposed fixed penalty system.
"By introducing the proposed fixed penalty system as an additional enforcement tool, the Government will be able to issue Fixed Penalty Notices on top of summons under section 4A of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228) for SFE involving the offence on obstruction of public places. The Government hopes that this could tackle SFE more efficiently and effectively, and could help address the deficiency of the existing summons system, i.e. the long lead time involved in the prosecution process and the light penalties that carry insufficient deterrence," a Government spokesman said.
"Over the past few months, the relevant law enforcement departments have been working closely on formulating a suitable enforcement strategy to deploy the proposed fixed penalty system and to complement its use with other existing legal tools to maximise the effect." he added.
The Government conducted a public consultation exercise from March to July last year to solicit public views on how to tackle the problems associated with SFE more effectively. Most respondents supported the introduction of a fixed penalty system with the level of fixed penalty set at $1,500.
Ends/Thursday, December 31, 2015
Issued at HKT 09:45
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