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Following is a question by the Hon Abraham Shek and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (November 24):
Question:
It has been learnt that there is an increasing number of charitable fund-raising activities on the streets in Hong Kong in recent years, particularly in commercial areas such as Central, and this has caused inconvenience and nuisance to members of the public. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of applications received by the authorities for organising charitable fund-raising activities on the streets, the number of such applications approved and the details (including the types and purposes of such fund-raising activities, the names of the organisations which submitted the applications, and the locations permitted for such fund-raising activities), with a breakdown by District Council district, in each of the past five years;
(b) whether the authorities had uncovered any unauthorised charitable fund-raising activities on the streets in the past five years; if they had, of the number of such cases and the details (including the types and purposes of such fund-raising activities, the amount of money involved and the numbers of prosecutions and convictions);
(c) whether the authorities had received any complaint in the past five years on charitable fund-raising activities on the streets; if they had, of the number of such complaints and the details (including the nature of the complaints, the number of substantiated cases, the follow-up actions taken by the authorities and the locations concerned), with a breakdown by District Council district;
(d) given that the Government had indicated at the Legislative Council meeting on May 12, 2010 that the sub-committee of the Law Reform Commission (tasked to review the legal and regulatory framework relating to charities in Hong Kong) was expected to release a public consultation paper on its findings within this year, whether the review conducted by this sub-committee covers the regulation of charitable fund-raising activities on the streets; if so, of the progress of such work; and
(e) whether the authorities will consider stepping up the regulation of charitable fund-raising activities on the streets before the review and consultation in (d) have been completed; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Legitimate fund-raising activities are one of the major income sources to support the services and projects of charitable organisations. While the Administration facilitates the conduct of charitable fund-raising activities, we also have to safeguard the interests of the donors and ensure that these activities do not cause nuisance or inconvenience to the public. The regulation of charitable fund-raising activities straddles the programme areas of a number of Government bureaux and departments. They have put in place various regulatory and administrative measures.
Under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112), a charitable institution or trust of a public character is exempt from tax chargeable under the Ordinance. Relevant Government departments take this tax-exempt status into account when considering applications involving fund-raising activities.
At present, the Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing is empowered by the Gambling Ordinance (Cap. 148) and the Gambling Regulations (Cap. 148A) to grant lottery licences. The Director of Social Welfare may issue Public Subscription Permits (PSPs) under the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228) for any collection of money or sale or exchange for donation of badges, tokens or similar articles for charitable purposes in public places. For the sale of goods in public places for raising funds, temporary hawker licences (THLs) may be issued by the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132).
The Administration's co-ordinated reply to the five parts of the Hon Abraham Shek's question is set out below:
(a) In the past five years, the number of applications for lotteries licences, PSPs and THLs received and approved by the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA), the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) respectively are listed below:
Calendar Approving Number of Number of
year authority applications applications
received approved
2005 TELA 34 34
SWD 781 688
FEHD 127 81
2006 TELA 29 29
SWD 763 666
FEHD 220 134
2007 TELA 29 29
SWD 716 622
FEHD 430 291
2008 TELA 20 20
SWD 1 004 911
FEHD 533 365
2009 TELA 26 26
SWD 813 703
FEHD 1 353 909
Details of the applications approved by SWD and TELA are at Annex A. FEHD issues THLs to organisations for raising funds in public places in form of sale of goods for non-profit making purpose. As THLs are issued under many other circumstances as well, FEHD has not compiled specific statistics on the THLs issued for fund-raising activities in public places in accordance with their types and purposes as well as the names of the applying organisations and locations permitted for the activities.
(b) In the five years between 2005 and 2009, TELA had not received any complaint about the conduct of unauthorised charitable lottery.
During the same period, SWD received 247 complaints about alleged unauthorised charitable fund-raising activities in public places. SWD referred these complaints to the Police for follow-up action since the activities involved could have breached the law. Investigation by the Police resulted in four convictions. SWD does not have details of the unauthorised charitable fund-raising activities in public places.
While FEHD keeps statistics on its law enforcement actions against unlicensed hawking activities, it does not have separate statistics specifically on those against the sale of goods on the streets for charitable fund-raising purpose.
(c) In the five years between 2005 and 2009, TELA received 16 complaints about charitable fund-raising activities on the streets, of which a total of nine cases were substantiated. Details of the complaints received by TELA are at Annex B.
As mentioned in part (b) of the reply, SWD referred the 247 cases of allegedly unauthorised charitable fund-raising activities in public places in the past five years to the Police for follow-up action. SWD referred other general enquiries or complaints about fund-raising activities (such as impoliteness or disorderly conduct of the fund-raisers) to the relevant organisations for follow-up action. It does not keep statistics on the general enquiries and complaints about fund-raising activities.
While FEHD keeps statistics on complaints about hawking activities on the streets, it does not have separate statistics specifically on those concerning the sale of goods on the streets for charitable fund-raising purpose. FEHD's main responsibility for THLs is to monitor the relevant hawking activities and environmental hygiene issues. Its district Hawker Control Teams conduct sector patrols on the streets every day and inspect the charitable fund-raising hawking stalls with THLs to ensure that the licensees are conducting the relevant activities in accordance with the Hawker Regulation (Cap. 132AI) and the licensing conditions. If issues under the purview of other Government departments are identified, the Hawker Control Teams will refer the cases to the relevant departments for follow-up action.
(d) and (e) Hong Kong is a caring society and the community is supportive of charitable causes. The Administration strives to provide a friendly environment with administrative procedures kept to a minimum in order to facilitate charitable organisations to mobilise community resources for their fund-raising activities. At the same time, the Administration needs to ensure that such activities do not cause nuisance or inconvenience to the public, and that the interests of the donors are safeguarded. We also combat fraudulent fund-raising activities vigorously.
We are stepping up our efforts to educate the public to be smart donors. The Administration will continue to keep the regulatory regime and administrative measures under review. In this regard, the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong (the Commission) is conducting a review on the law and regulatory framework relating to charities in Hong Kong, including the regulation of charitable fund-raising on the streets. The Commission is now studying the draft public consultation document on the subject prepared by its sub-committee and plans to issue it in the first half of 2011. The Administration will keep in view the progress of the review and its recommendations.
Ends/Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:01
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