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The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, was pleased to see the passage of the Air Pollution Control (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 by the Legislative Council today (July 10). The Ordinance seeks to implement the new air quality objectives (AQOs) on January 1, 2014.
"The new AQOs, which are benchmarked against a combination of interim and ultimate targets under the World Health Organization's Air Quality Guidelines, are broadly comparable to the air quality standards adopted by the European Union and the United States. Further underlining our on-going commitment to protecting public health and improving air quality, we have also included a provision to review the AQOs at least once every five years in the new Ordinance," said Mr Wong.
"From January 1, 2014, the new AQOs will be used as the basis for air quality impact assessment of projects or processes under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance and the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO). To preserve the integrity of the environmental impact assessment system, the new Ordinance also includes a transitional arrangement for designated projects with environmental permits granted under the EIAO," he said.
The Government has accorded top priority to improving air quality and the goal is to broadly achieve the new AQOs by 2020. The Government will also continue to expedite the implementation of various air quality improvement measures outlined in "A Clean Air Plan for Hong Kong" released in March this year.
Ends/Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Issued at HKT 21:51
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