​The Government received a total of 17 931 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the third quarter of 2025, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said today (February 10).

     The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of September 2025 amounted to 280 620. This includes the applications for Notice of Application for Access to Information in relation to the Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (Non-Chinese Citizens) received by the Immigration Department. Of these, 15 547 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 7 000 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information or cannot confirm or deny the existence of information. As at September 30, 2025, 906 requests were still being processed by bureaux/departments.

     Among the 257 167 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 253 649 requests (98.6 per cent) were met, either in full (250 369 requests) or in part (3 280 requests), and 3 518 requests (1.4 per cent) were refused.

     Any member of the public who is dissatisfied with the response of a bureau/department under the Code may request that the matter be reviewed. He or she may also lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.

     In the third quarter of 2025, the Ombudsman received 12 complaints relating to requests for information. In this quarter, the Ombudsman concluded nine complaints, among which three were concluded by inquiries (with no inadequacies found), and six were assessed and closed. As at September 30, 2025, five complaints remained under investigation.

Ends/Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Issued at HKT 10:00

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