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The Amusement Rides (Safety) (Fees) Regulation 2015 pursuant to the Amusement Rides (Safety) Ordinance was gazetted today (January 16).
The regulation stipulated the revision of 15 specified fee items for services provided by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. Based on the latest costing review, it is proposed to increase the existing fees by 5.8 per cent to 20.0 per cent with a view to achieving full cost recovery at 2014-15 price levels, and to put the new fees into effect from March 26. Details of the existing and proposed fees are shown in Annex 1.
Among the 15 fee items, 11 of them were last revised on December 8, 2000, and the other four items were last revised on March 8, 1997.
The proposed fee revisions have no direct impact on the daily life of the general public and may only mildly affect owners or operators of amusement rides (e.g. theme park operators). Moreover, as owners of amusement rides only have to pay a one-off fee for installation or alteration of the rides, the proposed revisions should have a negligible impact on the operating costs of the trade.
The amendment regulation in Annex 2 will be laid on the table of the Council at its meeting on January 21.
Ends/Friday, January 16, 2015
Issued at HKT 11:00
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