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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Kwok-hung and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 15):
Question:
Quite a number of members of the public have complained to me that food premises near to their residence illegally encroach onto the pavements so as to extend their operation, and some of those food premises on the ground floor of private buildings put eight to 10 tables on the public pavements outside their premises to serve hot pot dishes with Liquefied Petroleum Gas stoves or charcoal stoves from 7pm to 1am every night, thus seriously obstructing the pavements, and affecting street cleanliness, posing explosion and fire hazards and affecting the residents nearby. In addition, some members of the public have pointed out to me that some people and shops always place some used electrical appliances and garbage all over the streets, obstructing the pavements and causing serious environmental nuisances. However, such members of the public have pointed out that after lodging complaints through the government hotline 1823 in the evenings or outside office hours, officers of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) did not follow up the cases immediately, but only carried out inspections after a few days during office hours in the daytime, condoning the persistence of such illegal acts. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) regarding the complaints lodged by members of the public through the government hotline 1823 in the evenings or outside office hours that food premises near to their residence have illegally encroached onto the pavements to extend their operation, whether FEHD officers can, upon receipt of such complaints through the 1823 call centre, immediately go to the locations concerned to carry out investigations and take enforcement actions; if they can, of the implementation timeframe; if not, of the reasons for that, and whether such street obstruction cases can be condoned outside office hours;
(b) apart from the government hotline 1823, of the avenues through which members of the public may directly contact FEHD officers so that FEHD may immediately handle street obstruction problems;
(c) of the number of prosecutions instituted by FEHD against illegal encroachment on the pavements outside shop premises or street obstruction in various districts in the past five years (set out in Annex 1);
(d) of the number of prosecutions instituted by FEHD against repeated offenders for illegal encroachment on the pavements outside shop premises or street obstruction in various districts in the past five years (set out in Annex 2);
(e) of the existing number of FEHD officers dedicated to handle cases of illegal encroachment on the pavements outside shop premises or street obstruction in the evenings or during non-office hours in various districts (set out in Annex 3);
(f) under the existing legislation, of the legislation breached by food premises illegally encroaching onto the pavements outside their premises to extend their operation, and of the relevant penalty; and
(g) under the existing legislation, of the legislation breached by any person and shop obstructing the pavements by placing some used electrical appliances and garbage all over the streets, and of the relevant penalty?
Reply:
President,
Illegal extension of business by shops is a street management problem which falls within the purview of a number of government departments. The core function of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) is maintaining environmental hygiene. Hence, the FEHD will accord priority to handling cases causing obstruction to scavenging operations or relating to illegal extension of food business, and will take enforcement action having regard to the actual circumstances. The FEHD will also actively participate in inter-departmental operations coordinated by the Home Affairs Department, such that relevant departments could take further action under their purview to stop such unauthorised activities. Depending on the circumstances, the FEHD will take enforcement action in accordance with the following statutory provisions:
* for shops which have extended its business without authorisation and caused obstruction of public places, the FEHD may institute prosecutions under Section 4A of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228);
* if the shops have placed any article in public places and caused obstruction to scavenging operations, the FEHD may institute prosecutions under Section 22 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132); and
* regarding those licensed food premises that carry on business illegally beyond the confines of their premises, the FEHD may institute prosecutions against the licensees concerned under Section 34C of the Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X).
My reply to the seven parts of the question is as follows:
(a) In general, upon receipt of a complaint about illegal extension of food premises, the FEHD will carry out investigation within six working days as stated in its performance pledge. Based on the information provided by the complainant, such as the location and time of non-compliance, the FEHD will, wherever practicable, conduct investigation on site at the period reported in the complaint, including after office hours, e.g. at night, at weekends and on public holidays. Enforcement action will also be taken in the light of the evidence collected on site. If serious non-compliance is involved in the complaint, the FEHD will expedite the investigation and follow up.
(b) Members of the public may lodge complaints of obstruction of public places through the Government hotline 1823 or the FEHD enquiry and complaint hotline at 2868 0000. They may also call the FEHD's District Environmental Hygiene Offices. The telephone numbers of these offices have been uploaded to the FEHD website. The FEHD will follow up on the complaints in accordance with its performance pledge.
(c) Please refer to Annex 4 for the number of prosecutions instituted by the FEHD against illegal occupation of pedestrian walkways in front of shops or obstruction of public places (including obstruction to scavenging operations, illegal extension of food business and shop front extension) in the past five years by District Council (DC) districts.
(d) The FEHD does not have the statistics on cases of repeated offences.
(e) At present, FEHD Health Inspectors take enforcement action against illegal extension and obstruction of public places by food premises, while FEHD Cleansing Foremen are responsible for enforcement against obstruction to scavenging operations caused by illegal shop extension in accordance with Section 22 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132). As for prosecution concerning obstruction of public places, it is undertaken by both the staff of the Hawker Control Teams and Health Inspectors under Section 4A of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228). Please refer to Annex 5 for the strength of the relevant staff in the District Offices of the FEHD by DC district. The regulation of illegal shop extension is just part of the routine duties of the FEHD staff mentioned above. The FEHD will follow up on complaints against illegal occupation of shop front pedestrian walkways and obstruction of public places according to its performance pledge. Blitz prosecution action will be taken during different time periods (including at night and early morning) as and when required.
(f) If licensees carry on their business beyond the approved confines of their food premises, the FEHD will institute prosecutions against them under Section 34C of the Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X). Upon conviction, they are liable to a maximum fine of $10,000 and imprisonment for three months with an additional daily fine of $300. In addition, the FEHD will register corresponding demerit points against these premises in accordance with the Demerit Point System. If the demerit points have accumulated to a prescribed level, the FEHD will suspend or cancel the food business licences concerned under the existing policy. If food premises are found to have caused obstruction by placing any article in public places, the FEHD will institute prosecutions under Section 4A of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228). Offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $5,000 or imprisonment for three months on conviction.
(g) If any article (such as miscellaneous items like second-hand electrical appliances) placed on street is found to obstruct scavenging operations, FEHD officers may issue a notice to the owner of the article under Section 22 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), requiring him to remove the article within a specified period of time, failing which the FEHD may seize the article. The maximum penalty for contravention of the above provision is a fine of $5,000 and a daily fine of $50. For any obstruction of public places, FEHD officers may institute prosecutions under Section 4A of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228), and offenders are, upon conviction, liable to a maximum fine of $5,000 or imprisonment for three months.
Ends/Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Issued at HKT 16:43
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