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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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responsible for the control of obscene and indecent articles nor does it have any jurisdiction under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance which deals with the nature and content of publications, including those depicting sex and violence, available for sale to the public. The hawker control staff of the Urban Services Department are neither empowered to take action in respect of offences relating to the content of publications sold by newspaper hawkers, nor are they in a position or have the expertise to make any judgment as to whether the content of any publication is obscene or objectionable.
Licensing requirements and conditions are imposed by the Urban Council to achieve the necessary control objectives set out within the ambit of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, Cap. 132. The Principal Legal officer has confirmed that to impose any other licensing requirements and conditions beyond the Urban Council's legal and licensing power, for example those restricting the sale of Class III objectionable publications, would be ultra vires because such restrictions are not directly related to the objectives stated in Cap. 132. Hence the Council does not and also cannot impose any licensing requirement or condition to control the nature and content of publications sold by newspaper hawkers. Equally, therefore, we cannot specify the location of newspaper hawkers' fixed pitch on grounds which are unrelated to Cap. 132 and therefore we are not empowered to determine such locations based on the content of the publications being sold.
In July this year the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance has been amended to tighten controls over the sale of indecent articles, increase the penalty levels to create a greater deterrent and to increase the powers of enforcement agencies to facilitate enforcement actions. Obscene articles are totally banned from sale under the Ordinance.
The new measures, including the requirement that indecent articles shall display a warning notice of a size no less than 20% of the article, and that they should be sealed in wrappers, will come into effect in October. The Recreation and Culture Branch will closely monitor the effectiveness of the legislative amendments in reducing access to indecent articles by minors.
I have asked the Department to convey Councillor WONG Man-chiu's concerns to the Recreation and Culture Branch.
Mr. Ronnie Wong Man-chiu (in Cantonese):—I have a follow-up question. In fact, I understand that it is not the duty of the Department to prosecute hawkers illegally selling Class III or Class II publications. But these hawkers are liable for arrest and prosecution. If these hawkers have been convicted of illegally selling Class III publications, will the Department refuse to renew their licenses basing on such convictions or will such convictions become a factor to be considered for licence renewals in future.
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