HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
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MR. JOSEPH Chan Yuek-sut (in Cantonese):—Chairman, is this a question or a comment?
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—A question. It asks whether this can be done.
MR. JOSEPH Chan Yuek-sut (in Cantonese):—A question. Chairman, this can be done.
MR. ALBERT Lai Wing-LIN (in Cantonese):—Chairman, I want to know what follow-up action we have taken during these sixteen months on the restaurant which had its licence cancelled on 18 June 1996, now termed an unlicensed restaurant. This is the first point.
The second question, we are told that the maximum penalty for operating an unlicensed restaurant is imprisonment for 6 months. Has the maximum penalty ever been imposed? Can an answer be given, telling me the circumstances under which operators who run unlicensed restaurants in defiance of the law are given maximum penalty?
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the Department is seeking a Closure Order from the court in respect of this case. If they violate the Prohibition Order and are convicted, we can seek a Closure Order to have the shop closed.
As to the severity of penalty, Mr. Chairman, it is a subject we have been commenting and raising questions on. At a number of meetings, Members put forth similar views. They consider that the penalties are too light and that the imprisonment sentence exists in name but not in practice because the judges have never sentenced the offenders to imprisonment. However, because of judicial independence, we can only put forward our views. We cannot influence the judges' decisions. Let us wait and see whether there is a better way to forward our comments to the court, in the hope that it will accept our views by imposing heavier penalties. If the court accepts our view on the imprisonment sentence, greater deterrent effect would be achieved.
Mr. Christopher Chung SHU-KUN (in Cantonese):—I have two follow-up questions. The reply document mentions that the Director of Urban Services claims that the Director of Health already has the power to close food premises that give rise to hygiene problems. In fact, what is the relationship between the two? As far as I know, it is only when an epidemic such as cholera breaks out in these premises that the Director of Health may have them closed. Does it mean that the Urban Services Department would simply let these unlicensed food shops exist until an epidemic such as cholera breaks out and that it is only then the case would be referred to the Department of Health for follow-up?
The second question, I would like to know: how many times is an unlicensed food shop prosecuted, and how long does it take before we can file for a
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