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accordance with the Municipal Services Ordinance. How about the tradings in licensed pet shops? Which is the licensing authority for those pet shops? If the hygienic conditions in those shops are poor and jeopardize public health, will USD enforce the Public Health Ordinance and prosecute them? I would like to have a clear reply.
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Thank you Mr. LAI for your question. Pet shop licenses are issued by the AFD, not the UC.
As regards the second question, if the hygienic condition of a pet shop is poor, USD has the responsibility to initiate prosecution against it. Hence, if any Member knows that the hygienic condition of a certain pet shop is poor, please inform the District Environmental Health Superintendent concerned so that appropriate actions can be taken against them.
Ms. JENNIFER Chow Kit-bing (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to follow up the last question. As prosecution actions are now taken by 2 Departments separately, I suggest that the Department should consider conducting joint operations with AFD in future so as to avoid that when the AFD staff inspect the same locations afterwards, the hawkers may have moved to another place.
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Thank you, Ms. CHOW. I agree with Ms. CHOW's opinion that we can pass the information to AFD and organise joint enforcement operations with them. In fact, we did organise such joint actions with other departments in the past.
MR. LEE KWOK-KEUNG (in Cantonese):—I don't quite understand the reply just now. If an explanation can't be given today, please give us an explanation after the meeting. If we have arrested a hawker on the street, prosecuted him for illegal hawking and street obstruction, and confiscated his goods, why can't we just pass the information to AFD and let AFD make additional charges against the hawker according to legislations enforced by them. I think that can be done. Maybe those from the legal sector can explain to us about this. My question is why can't we make additional charges against the hawkers. I don't see any problems. I think the USD should take one step further. It is not necessary to pre-arrange joint operations because there needs to be a lot of arrangements such as finding a time suitable to both Departments. Just like our cooperation with the Housing Department on the problem of hawkers, Members are aware that there are a lot of difficulties. So, if we have the evidence in hand, why can't we make additional charges against the hawkers?
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Thank you Mr. LEE for your opinion. I will consult our legal advisor but to my understanding, it is not up to the USD to decide whether additional charges are made against the hawker or not. This is within the jurisdiction of AFD and therefore involves another
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