HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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Thirdly, if there is no priority rating, then I would like to ask if the Urban Council will take action first against street obstruction caused by shops selling foods or wet goods.
MR. JOSEPH Chan Yuek-sut (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the answer to the first question is in the affirmative. The Council will liaise with the Department in strengthening communication with other government departments to see if the aforesaid problems can be improved. As mentioned just now, in the District Management Committee plan, inter-departmental actions will continue to be taken. When the Urban Council deals with the street obstruction problem, top priority will be given to the kind of obstruction that hinders the Department's street cleansing work and prosecution actions will be taken against such offenders. This will be handled first. In addition to it is illegal hawking; as mentioned in the reply of another question, we can prosecute unlicensed or licensed hawkers for street obstruction, and this concerns the work of hawker control. For unlicensed hawkers, they will be accused firstly of obstructing the streets and secondly, hawking illegally. With regard to shops selling foods or wet goods (if they are foods), it falls under the scope of work of our Select Committee. For cases in which food premises extend their area of operation, the present legislation is different from that on obstruction to cleansing work and also from the item discussed today. During this month, the Department will carry out an action, the first of which is to do publicity work and the second is to undertake raids and prosecution actions, especially against food premises operators who extend their area of operation by placing tables and chairs on pavements. During this month, publicity, education and prosecution action will be strengthened. The penalties imposed will be different from those imposed on shop operators who obstruct cleansing work; other than fines, there will be a demerit points system and suspension or revocation of licenses may be necessary.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese):—I would like to follow it up, as what Mr. Joseph CHAN has just mentioned confused me. I would like to ask whether at present the USD staff can only take prosecution actions against shop operators causing street obstruction in respect of the provision of cleansing services? This is my first question.
Secondly, can the present prosecution procedures be simplified? In other words, can the Department take prosecution actions against cases not concerning the provision of cleansing services?
MR. Joseph Chan YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):-For cases of street obstruction relating to the provision of cleansing services, the procedure is most simple. For cases other than street cleansing, the court may have to issue summonses and the prosecution procedures are more complicated. With regard to street cleansing, senior staff of the Cleansing Section of the Department can take prosecution actions. The offenders will be prosecuted,
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