3-
The Consumer Goods Safety (Amendment)(No.2) Bill seeks to enhance consumer protection by requiring all consumer goods covered by the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance to have all safety markings or labels provided in both English and Chinese (bilingual safety labelling requirement).
A Government spokesman said: "We recognise that safety labels in a language widely understood by the community - Chinese - is of paramount importance to ensure consumer safety.
"We also see the need to ensure that the English-speaking community in Hong Kong, including some 157,000 foreign domestic helpers, understand the safety labels on consumer goods.
"At present, there is no statutory requirement that safety markings or labels must be provided in both English and Chinese."
The spokesman said: "The bilingual safety labelling requirement will be confined to markings or labels relating to warning or caution phrases given for the safe keeping, use, consumption or disposal of the consumer goods.
"By doing so, we aim to strike a balance between enhancing consumer safety and avoiding imposing an undue burden on manufacturers, importers and suppliers."
He noted: "To allow the trade and industry sectors sufficient time to make necessary adjustments to their products, a 12-month grace period will be given after the enactment of the new requirement before it is brought into effect."
The Toys and Children's Products Safety (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 1996 provides for the adoption of multiple safety standards for children's products under the Toys and Children's Products Safety Ordinance.
The spokesman said: "Under the amendment, any alternative standards to be adopted will be equivalent to the existing British standards Institution (BSI) standards in terms of safety requirement.
"The proposal is made in response to recent requests from the trade and industrial organisations that multiple standards should be adopted for children's products because adoption of the BSI specifications alone is considered too restrictive and would limit consumers' choice," he added.
End