Air Pollution Control (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 comes into operation
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The Amendment Ordinance tightens five existing AQOs and adds three parameters newly introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) to the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines (see Annex). In addition, the Amendment Ordinance provides transitional arrangements for designated projects for which environmental permits (EPs) have been issued under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (Cap. 499) before April 11 this year. If applications for variation of EPs of these projects are submitted within 36 months from the day that the new AQOs come into operation, the Government will adopt the pre-amended AQOs as the approval criteria.
As regards the tightened control over unlicensed SP operations, after the Amendment Ordinance come into operation, the Director of Environmental Protection may issue a closure notice to the operator of a premise if he believes that a SP is being carried out on any premises without a SP licence. If the operator fails to comply with the requirements of the closure notice to stop the conduct of the concerned SP, a maximum penalty, upon conviction, is a fine of $1,000,000 and imprisonment for 12 months. The Amendment Ordinance also amends the scope of "cement works" and the definition of "premises", including regulating "cement works" carried out on ships or barges, which are subject to control of the SP licensing regime.
A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said, "To enable cement operators brought under the control of the Amendment Ordinance to apply for SP licences from the EPD in a timely manner, the EPD will put in place a six-month transitional arrangement, during which the cement operations newly brought under control will not be regarded as unlicensed operations. The transitional arrangement does not apply to cement operations that are already subject to control under the original Air Pollution Control Ordinance."
Ends/Friday, April 11, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:00
Issued at HKT 12:00
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