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Following is a question by the Hon Henry Wu and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mrs Regina Ip, in the Legislative Council today (June 26):
Question:
Following the "911" incident last year, enhanced security measures, including the ban on the carriage of any sharp or bladed objects into the aircraft cabin, have been adopted at the Hong Kong International Airport ("HKIA"). Accordingly, articles for personal use such as nail clippers, nail files and tweezers exceeding certain lengths or in certain shapes ("such articles") are not allowed in the aircraft cabin, and they can only be carried in check-in baggage. When staff responsible for security checks in the Airport Restricted Area find that boarding passengers have carried such articles with them, they will seize these articles and instruct the passengers concerned to reclaim them, within a time limit of seven days, at the relevant airline counters at the airport when they return to Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the criteria the Civil Aviation Department has adopted in drawing up the list of articles not allowable in the aircraft cabin;
(b) of the reasons for specifying the seven-day time limit for reclaiming such articles; the disposal methods for the articles not reclaimed upon expiry of the time limit; and, since September last year, the number of such articles which have not been reclaimed;
(c) whether it is aware of the respective international airports which have put in place the same stringent stipulation concerning articles not allowable in the aircraft cabin and the time limit for reclaiming such articles; if there are none, of the reasons for adopting such stringent stipulation;
(d) whether it knows if other international airports have adopted practices different from the above concerning boarding passengers' carriage of such articles, such as by pooling these articles, storing them in the luggage bay and allowing passengers to reclaim them upon disembarkation; if so, of the details of such practices and the justifications for not adopting them in HKIA;
(e) of the number of complaints about the above measure received from flight passengers so far; and
(f) whether it has been reviewed if the above stipulation will cause inconvenience to passengers not carrying check-in baggage, especially business travellers who are in a hurry and those not returning to Hong Kong through HKIA, and whether it will formulate improvement measures; if it has, of the conclusion ; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The security personnel at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) screen passengers and their carry-on bags according to a list of restricted articles published in the Hong Kong Aviation Security Programme drawn up by the Aviation Security Authority under the Aviation Security Ordinance (Cap. 494). The list contains items such as firearms, explosives, pointed and bladed items which are considered to pose safety and security risk to the operations of the flight.
The list of restricted articles is subject to regular review in the light of the changing operating environment and security requirements. The enhanced measure of including knives, knife-like objects and bladed items of any length in the list of restricted articles was introduced on September 28, 2001 after the "911" incident. Since March 23, 2002, nail clippers of less than 6 cm long (not including nail file), round-ended nail files, and round-ended scissors with blades less than five cm long have been taken out from the restricted articles list.
An up-to-date list of restricted items is available to the public on the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) webpage at http://www.info.gov.hk/cad, a copy of which is at the Annex to this reply.
(b) All properly documented items removed from the passengers are forwarded to the airlines for collection by passengers at HKIA. The requirement to reclaim the items within seven days was therefore a practice determined by the airlines. With effect from May 13, 2002, the retention period has been extended to 14 days. If the passengers cannot return to HKIA within 14 days to reclaim their property, they can make special arrangements with the airlines.
Unclaimed items will be disposed of by the airlines. For items that are abandoned by the passengers at the screening points, they will be trashed within four days by the Aviation Security Company Limited (AVSECO).
Since it is from the airlines that the items are reclaimed, the Government does not have statistics on the number of items that have not been reclaimed. However, since the exclusion of nail clippers, nail files and scissors of certain descriptions from the restricted articles list from March 23, 2002 as mentioned in part (a) above, there has been a decrease in the average number of restricted articles removed from passengers at the screening points. In June 2002, a daily average of 1 350 items of restricted articles are removed from passengers, of which 1 000 pieces are abandoned and 350 pieces forwarded to the airlines for reclaiming by the passengers.
(c) Since the "911" incident, the United States Federal Aviation Administration has banned the carriage of all kinds of knives and bladed objects into the aircraft cabin of US carriers and all other carriers bound for the US, including those from HKIA. In view of the international trend to tighten up aviation security measures after the "911" incident, CAD has extended this security requirement to all other flights operating from the HKIA. In fact, since the "911" incident, the banning of the carriage of all knives and bladed objects into aircraft cabin has become a common international practice adopted at airports in the Mainland and many other countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and Thailand. The time limit for reclaiming the security items varies from 7 days in Thailand to 30 days in the Mainland.
(d) The current practice of handling removed security items at HKIA was adopted by the airlines after consultation with the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), AVSECO and CAD taking into account factors such as the number of items to be handled, flight movement schedules, operating environment, handling procedures, resource implications as well as practices adopted elsewhere. As the scale and environment of operations vary from airport to airport, airlines may have to apply different handling procedures at different airports to ensure the smooth operation of their flights. At HKIA, in view of the large number of security items intercepted and numerous flights involved, the practice of organising and preparing the security items for delivery as hold baggage to destinations for collection by passengers upon disembarkation may cause significant delay to the flights.
(e) Since the introduction of the enhanced measure of including knives, knife-like objects and bladed items of any length into the restricted articles list on September 28, 2001, AVSECO which conducts the security screening of passengers at HKIA has received 30 written complaints from passengers regarding the removal of their restricted articles.
(f) CAD, together with AAHK and airlines, regularly review the security procedures in the light of the prevailing operating environment and security requirements. In the interests of aviation security, passengers without check-in baggage must be subject to the same security procedures as all other passengers using the HKIA. In case of need, they can request their airline to make special arrangements for the delivery of their security items.
Since the tightening up of the restricted articles list in September 2001, CAD, AAHK and airlines have used various means to publicize the new requirements to passengers. These include verbal reminders by airline staff at check-in counters, announcements on the webpages of CAD, AAHK and airlines and at the departure hall, display of samples of restricted items at CAD booths at the departure hall, and the issue of letters to travel agents asking them to convey the message to passengers. Such measures are aimed at increasing passengers' awareness of the security requirements so that they can refrain from carrying the restricted items in their hand baggage and thereby minimise inconvenience caused at HKIA.
End/Wednesday, June 26, 2002
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