Following is a question by the Hon Chan Pui-leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (May 27):

Question:

     It is prohibited under the existing legislation to sell and supply intoxicating liquor to persons under the age of 18 (minors) in the course of business. There are views pointing out that, given the growing popularity of online shopping, minors can easily circumvent the law to purchase liquor by sending private messages to sellers and arranging delivery through courier services. This may give rise to regulatory loopholes since some individual sellers operate online liquor trading businesses without business registration and age verification with buyers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether the Inland Revenue Department has issued advisory letters to and instituted prosecutions against persons operating online liquor trading businesses without business registration in accordance with the requirements under the Business Registration Ordinance (Cap. 310) over the past five years; if so, of the numbers concerned and the effectiveness thereof;

(2) given that in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on February 25 this year, the Government indicated that, over the past five years, the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office (TACO) of the Department of Health had carried out over 2 600 online inspections targeting online shopping platforms and issued more than 600 advisory letters to these platforms pursuant to Part 5 of the Dutiable Commodities (Liquor) Regulations (Cap. 109B), whether it involved repeated non-compliances among these cases; if so, of the numbers and percentages concerned; of the Government's follow-up measures against online shopping platforms or holders of social media accounts not responding to advice repeatedly;

(3) given that it does not require a liquor licence for selling liquor online at present, whether TACO has established mechanisms to proactively monitor online trading platforms and online stores and investigate if reasonable steps have been taken for age verification with buyers when selling liquor; whether studies have been conducted on the use of big data or artificial intelligence systems to proactively monitor non-compliances involving liquor advertisements or suspicious transactions on social media and online platforms, with a view to stepping up efforts in combating illegal sale of liquor to minors; if so, of the effectiveness of these efforts; if not, the reasons for that; and

(4) quite a number of countries have formulated strict regulations on online sale of liquor as an effort to protect youth health and regulate the supply of alcohol, for instance, Singapore mandates that individuals and commercial enterprises, including e-commerce platforms, are required to obtain a licence before supplying alcoholic beverages online or through telecommunications services and that these platforms should take the initiative to remove non-compliant products and be jointly and severally liable for non-compliances, whether the Government will make reference to the experience of other places and formulate relevant regulations; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     According to the World Health Organization (WHO), harmful use of alcohol is a significant risk factor for more than 200 diseases, injuries and other health conditions. Harmful use of alcohol is associated with the risk of developing a range of health problems such as mental and behavioural disorders (including alcohol dependence), and major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (e.g. liver cirrhosis and certain cancers). In addition to health effects, harmful use of alcohol can place a heavy burden on individuals, families and the society. The WHO recommends that governments of various places should strengthen their responses to reduce alcohol-related harm for prevention and control of NCDs. Reducing alcohol-related harm is an important priority action area in the prevention and control of NCDs locally. In 2018, the Government promulgated the Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent and Control Non-communicable Diseases in Hong Kong (SAP). To this end, the Government adopts a multi-pronged approach, comprising publicity and education, law enforcement, and promotion of alcohol screening, and more. The Department of Health (DH) has been enforcing the Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 (the Amendment Ordinance) since 2018 to further prevent youth access to alcohol. In response to the Hon Chan Pui-leung's question, the reply after consultation with the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the DH is as follows:

(1) Any person who carries on a business in Hong Kong, regardless of whether through a brick-and-mortar presence or the internet, is required to apply for business registration under the Business Registration Ordinance (Cap. 310). If the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is aware that any person carrying on a business in Hong Kong has not applied for business registration, it would advise the relevant person to apply for business registration as soon as possible, and would consider initiating prosecution against the relevant person where necessary.

     As the IRD does not maintain statistics on cases involving issuance of advice, the relevant figures are not available. According to the IRD's experience, most of those who received advice would apply for business registration promptly. In the past five years, the IRD did not institute prosecution in respect of businesses selling alcoholic products online without business registration.

(2) to (4) Through the Amendment Ordinance, the Government adds a new Part 5 and a Schedule to the Dutiable Commodities (Liquor) Regulations (Cap. 109B) (the Regulations). The Regulations aims to prevent minors from accessing and obtaining alcoholic beverages in order to protect the health of young people and have been in force since 2018. The Regulations prohibit any persons from selling or supplying intoxicating liquor to a minor in the course of business (including face-to-face and remote distribution). For remote distribution, the seller must display or broadcast the prescribed notice stating that, under the law of Hong Kong, intoxicating liquor must not be sold or supplied to minors in the course of business. The seller must also obtain an age declaration from the buyer confirming that he/she is 18 years of age or above prior to the sale or supply, and there must be no circumstances that would give the seller reasonable grounds to suspect that the declaration is false.

     Having drawn reference from the experience of other jurisdictions and striking a balance between protecting public health and the degree of regulation, the Regulations adopt a strategy that focuses on the regulation of the transaction, including making it an offence to complete each remote transaction without first receiving an age declaration. Compared with a licensing regime imposed on sellers, this approach enable the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office (TACO) of the DH to directly investigate and take enforcement action against suspected illegal selling of liquor to minors, regardless of whether the seller holds a licence. This approach also covers covert sales.

     The TACO has established a mechanism to continuously and proactively engage with the trade, including online platforms, to provide guidelines which are respectively applicable to the sellers, the delivery staff employed by the sellers, and more. The guidelines sets out the reasonable steps when delivering the liquor, so as to assist the trade in understanding and complying with the relevant requirements. For example, where delivery services are required to complete the remote distribution order after the sale of liquor, the delivery staff who is employed by the company selling the alcoholic beverages have a legal obligation to verify that the recipient is 18 years of age or above before handing over the liquor.

     Between 2021 and 2025, the TACO conducted more than 2 600 online inspections and issued more than 600 advisory letters in response to cases where websites were found not to have properly implemented the requirements regarding the prescribed notice or age declaration. All relevant websites co-operated and took follow-up action after receiving the advisory letters, with no cases involving repeated disregard of the advice.

     The Government is also committed to leveraging technology to enhance enforcement efficiency at various levels. The TACO is exploring the use of big data or artificial intelligence technology to assist in online inspection work and will introduce appropriate tools in a timely manner in light of the development of relevant technologies.

     In addition, the TACO places great importance on public education to more effectively regulate the unlawful sale of alcoholic beverages to minors under the Regulations. The DH has launched the "Young and Alcohol Free" campaign since 2016, with the development of health education resources, Announcements in the Public Interest, and collaboration with groups and non-governmental organisations serving youth, to disseminate relevant messages. The latest round of the promotional campaign was launched in 2025 and was promoted through social media, residential building lobby TV display network, public transport, venues under the DH and other Government departments.

     Regular surveys conducted by the Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau collect information on alcohol drinking, smoking and drug use among young people. According to the Survey of Drug Use among Students, since the Amendment Ordinance took effect, the prevalence of ever drinking, 12-month drinking and 30-day drinking among youth shows a downward trend, meeting the relevant target as stated in the SAP, which aims to achieve a relative reduction of at least 10 per cent in the prevalence of drinking among youth from the 2011/12 level by 2025. The relevant figures are tabulated below: 
 

	Year 2011/12	Year 2023/24	Change
The prevalence of ever drinking among youth	56.0%	40.4%	-27.9%
The prevalence of 12-month drinking among youth	41.0%	27.9%	-32.0%
The prevalence of 30-day drinking among youth	18.4%	14.3%	-22.3%

Ends/Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00

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