XN000022-1996-05-29 — Page 22

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Hotel Accommodation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

Following is the speech by the acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Mrs Stella Hung, in moving the second reading of the Hotel Accommodation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1996 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Mr President,

I move the Second Reading of the Hotel Accommodation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1996.

The main objective of the Bill is to amend the definition of "hotel" in the Hotel Proprietors Ordinance and the Hotel Accommodation Tax Ordinance; and the definition of "hotel" and "guesthouse" in the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance in order to specify the scope of the definitions. The other amendments to the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance are to streamline the operation of the licensing scheme under that Ordinance.

The existing definitions of "hotel"; and "hotel" and "guesthouse" in the three Ordinances have allowed establishments which offer accommodation only to limited categories of persons, for example, to persons of a particular nationality or clients of one tourist agency, to operate outside the ambit of the Ordinances. A High Court Judgement in March 1996 also has implications on the scope of application of the three Ordinances. It ruled that hotels that accepted guests with prior reservations would not fall within the purview of the Ordinances. A potential loophole has been created whereby hotels could claim that they let rooms in response to prior reservations (for example, telephone booking) and should not be subject to the Ordinances. This loophole needs to be plugged so that the licensing scheme under the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance would continue to apply to all hotels to ensure the efficacy of safety in them; and that hotel accommodation tax should continue to be payable by all hotels under the Hotel Accommodation Tax Ordinance. Otherwise there would be serious revenue implications.

Clauses 2, 4 and 5 of the Bill amend the definition of "hotel" in the Hotel Proprietors Ordinance, the definition of "hotel" in the Hotel Accommodation Tax Ordinance, and the definition of "hotel" and "guesthouse" in the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance respectively to address the above-mentioned deficiencies.

The Bill proposes other amendments to the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance to improve the operation of the licensing scheme. Clauses 6 and 7 amend the Ordinance so that the Licensing Authority can issue licences of up to three years' validity to obviate the need for annual licence renewal, as is the case now. We intend to issue three-year licences on a case by case basis. In principle, such licences will be granted only to those establishments that have shown integrity of continuing to fulfil the fire and building safety standards and that would not abuse the licensing control.