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The Government announced today (May 17) legislative amendments to enhance licensing control over the importation of frozen, chilled meat and poultry for the better protection of public health.

Under the proposed control scheme, no person may import into Hong Kong any frozen, chilled meat or poultry except under a licence issued by the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene. Application for an import licence has to be supported by an official certificate issued by a competent authority recognised by the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene or the written permission of a health officer. The proposed maximum penalty for importing without a licence is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment of two years.

Any person who imports into Hong Kong for personal consumption a quantity not exceeding 15 kilograms may be exempted from licensing control provided that the meat or poultry in question is accompanied by a valid certificate recognised by the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene or the written permission of a health officer.

The legislative amendments also seek to remove frozen meat, chilled meat and frozen poultry from the list of reserved commodities, thus relieving importers of the burden to register with the Director-General of Trade as stockholders, submit monthly returns on imports and keep a reserve stock as currently required by the Reserved Commodities Ordinance.

"By extending the import licensing control to cover chilled poultry and imposing a more stringent penalty against smuggling activities, we can make sure that meat and poultry, whether frozen or chilled, are imported from sources that comply with internationally accepted hygiene conditions. The community as a whole will benefit from our enhanced protection of public health through the revised import licensing scheme," a Government spokesman said.

"The trading community will also benefit from the trade facilitative measure of de-classifying such products as reserved commodities."

The Import and Export (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2000, to be made under the Import and Export Ordinance for subjecting frozen, chilled meat and poultry to import licensing control, and the Reserved Commodities (Control of Imports, Exports and Reserve Stocks) (Amendment) Regulation 2000, to be made under the Reserved Commodities Ordinance for removing chilled meat, frozen meat and poultry as reserved commodities, were approved by the Executive Council on May 9, 2000.

The amendment regulations will be gazetted on May 19, 2000 and tabled at the Legislative Council for negative vetting on May 24, 2000. They are intended to commence operation on August 1, 2000.

End/Wednesday, May 17, 2000

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