The Chief Executive has appointed nine members to the second term of the Private Columbaria Licensing Board for three years from September 8, 2020, to September 7, 2023. The appointments were gazetted today (August 21).
 
     The Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene is appointed as an ex officio member and the Chairperson of the Licensing Board. Mr‍ Ip‍ Kwok-‍him is re-appointed as the Deputy Chairperson of the Licensing Board.
 
     A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said that the non-official members of the Licensing Board come from various fields, including legal, planning, building, surveying, engineering, environmental, commercial/business, accounting and social/community services.
 
     "Members of the Licensing Board come from diverse backgrounds of various professional fields, and are equipped with wide exposure to public services. They will provide the needed knowledge and valuable advice to the Board in the discharge of its statutory functions. We are sincerely thankful for the contributions made by members of the Board in their first term and will continue to count on their wealth of expertise and experience in the coming term in handling the various issues involved in the regulation of private columbaria," said the spokesman.
 
     The Licensing Board is a statutory body established under section 8(1) of the Private Columbaria Ordinance (Cap. 630), for regulating the operation and management of private columbaria, in particular, handling the applications for specified instruments (licences, exemptions and temporary suspensions of liability), issuing relevant guidelines and codes of practice and handling complaints.
 
     The membership list of the Licensing Board for the second term is as follows:

Ex officio member
Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene (Chairperson)
 
Members appointed on an ad personam basis
Mr Ip Kwok-him (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Cheung Hau-wai
Mr James Mathew Fong
Dr Ho Chi-ming
Ms Elizabeth Law
Professor Johnny Ng Kit-chong
Professor James Kenneth Pong Kam-keung
Miss Alice Wan Ngai-teck

Ends/Friday, August 21, 2020
Issued at HKT 12:00

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