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Commenting on news that the German Government would soon announce a standard method for the testing of the harmful amines, Mr Law said the Industry Department would consider developing a laboratory accreditation scheme for testing when the standard was known.

"Further support services like the model procedure for buying and control and dyehouse registration scheme will also be considered," Mr Law said.

End

Provision of urgent relief for PWIF's applicants

The Labour Department today (Wednesday) introduced a new hotline service to provide emergency financial assistance to destitute applicants for the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund (PWIF).

Set up by the Wage Security Unit (WSU) of the Department, the new hotline 2923 5329 is aimed at providing prompt relief to PWIF's applicants who are in genuine financial hardship in the form of advance partial payment of their entitlements.

"Employees who are owed wages for prolonged period, have difficulties in seeking new employment due to old age, illness or disability or are still unemployed long after the insolvency of their employers, are all eligible to apply for the contingency relief," a Senior Labour Officer of the WSU, Mrs Marian Li said.

Subject to basic verification of the applicant's claims, an amount of the advance partial payment will be made not exceeding 50 per cent of the claims or $10,000, whichever is the less.

"However, applicants will be informed that their payments will be released only upon conclusion of the investigations if their applications are dubious or lacking in essential evidence," she said.

Under the circumstances where the amount of claims is substantial and the presentation of a winding-up or bankruptcy petition is required, payment will be made after the petition has been filed.

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