XN000022-1996-07-10 — Page 23

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Motion debate on hotel and guesthouse regulation

Following is the speech by the acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Mrs Stella Hung, in the motion debate on the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 1996 in the Legislative Council yesterday (Wednesday):

Mr President,

I urge Honourable Members not to repeal the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 1996 and not to support the proposed amendments to the Regulation as moved by the Hon Sin Chung-kai.

The Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance was enacted in May 1991 to provide for a licensing scheme to regulate fire and building safety, health and hygiene of hotel and guesthouse accommodation. Under the Ordinance, any person operating a hotel or guesthouse is required to obtain a certificate of exemption or a licence.

As the purpose of the Ordinance is to regulate the safety of temporary accommodation for tourists and local people, both hotels and guesthouses are subject to the licensing scheme. Annual inspections are essential before licence renewal to ensure that the premises continue to comply with the licence conditions. The vigorous enforcement of the Ordinance by the Licensing Authority has contributed to the reputation of our hotels and guesthouses in the context of safety. The Licensing Authority has taken, and will continue to take, robust enforcement actions against unlicensed establishments. I should stress that there is no duplication of work between the Licensing Authority and other Government Departments, as the Licensing Authority is the one and only agency in the Administration responsible for the licensing of hotels and guesthouses.

It is Government policy that fees should in general be set at levels sufficient to recover the full cost of providing the services from the users. This is an important principle which forms an integral part of our revenue structure and which underpins our low tax economy. The Public Accounts Committee in 1994 recommended that the Secretary for Home Affairs should devise an action plan as soon as possible to achieve full cost recovery for the licensing of hotels and guesthouses.

Our proposed fee scale for licensing hotels and guesthouses seeks to reflect the costs of licensing establishments of different sizes more accurately. The proposed scale is more equitable than the existing scale to operators of small guesthouses/holiday flats. Over 600 such establishments will enjoy a 31% reduction in licence fees under the proposed scale.