1988 — Page 88

Page 88 of 182

168

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

acceptable standard. Council is working closely with EPD and other Govern- are safe for use. This means that water quality must be maintained at all at an ment Departments to push for early implementation of short and long term measures to combat pollution with particular emphasis on gazetted beaches.

2. MR. PETER CHAN CHI-KWAN asked the following question

on behalf of Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN (in English):--- What new measures will be adopted to reduce and eventually eliminate the number of illegal eating establishments so as to protect public health and will these be done in phases?

MR. CHAN KWOK-MING, CHAIRMAN OF THE FOOD HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question concerns control of un- licensed food premises. It asks what new measures will the Council take to reduce their numbers or to eliminate them eventually and whether such measures would be done in phases.

The short answer to the question is 'yes'. The Council will shortly adopt a new measure to tackle the problem of unlicensed food premises. This has been made possible following the coming into effect on 1 October 1988 of the Public Health and Municipal Service (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance of 1988.

Under this amendment Ordinance, the Council may apply to the Court for a Closure Order which enables the Council to physically close down by hammer and nail all premises which carry on unlicensed food business in definance of Prohibition Orders made by the Court. Until the law was recently amended, the Council could only penalize such offenders by way of prosecutions which had not proved to be effective. Prohibition Orders were normally issued when unlicensed premises repeatedly flouted the law despite successive convictions for continuing their unlicensed food business.

The salient features of this new amendment legislation include the following:

(a) The Authority is to give a prior notice of not less than 14 days of its in- tention to apply for either a Prohibition or Closure Order. Such prior notice would give the interested parties an opportunity to be heard in Court;

(b) When a Prohibition Order is granted and found not continuously com- plied with, the Authority may proceed to apply for a Closure Order on the 8th day after service of the Prohibition Order;

(c) A Closure Order granted by the Court takes effect on the 8th day after such an Order has been affixed in a conspicuous place of the premises, and the Authority may enforce physical closure of the premises; (d) Power is given to the Authority to disconnect gas, water and electricity supplies to the premises and to take possession of any food or articles likely to create a fire hazard or constitute a danger to life if left on the premises;

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

Page 88 of 182

169

(e) Perishable foods or articles which require to be disposed of shall be dis- posed of immediately. Other foods or articles still in possession may be claimed back by their owner within 7 days;

When a Closure Order is in force, any person who enters or remains in the premises without the written permission of the Authority commits an offence and is liable upon conviction to a fine of $60,000 and 12 months imprisonment plus a daily fine of $1,000 if such offence is con- tinued;

(g) Power is also given to the Authority to recover the cost incurred in the

execution of such Order.

Enforcement of these new measures has to be taken in phases since it is not possible in operational terms to tackle the large number of unlicensed food pre- mises in one go. In the Urban Council arca there are at present about 900 un- licensed food premises in respect of which Prohibition Orders have been made. Of these premises, about 400 are unlicensed restaurants. For obvious reasons, the most serious cases which pose serious health, fire or structural safety pro- blems will be dealt with first. Two operational committees (one for Hong Kong Island and the other for Kowloon) each chaired by an Assistant Director of the Department have been set up to monitor progress.

MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, there are about 400 unlicensed restaurants, how long would it take to regularize the whole situation, say, within the next twenty four months or so?

MR. CHAN KWOK-MING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I am afraid we can- not give you a definite time-table. We will carry out the enforcement work in phases. However there has already been an improvement in the situation. For example, there were some 443 unlicensed restaurants on 31 July 1988, but on 11 September 1988 the figure dropped to 409, a decrease of 34. As regards other food businesses, the number decreased from 496 to 476, a drop of 20. On 30 September 1988, the number of unlicensed restaurants further decreased from 409 to 322, a decrease of 87. For other food businesses, there was a decrease from 476 to 253. To sum up, there was a total drop of 331 unlicensed food premises including restaurants and other food businesses. We are confident that the number of such unlicensed food premises will be decreased in future.

MR. STEPHEN LAU (in Cantonese):---Mr. Chairman, members of the public have no way to know the distinction between licensed and unlicensed restaurants be- cause they would not ask the operators for the production of a licence. I would like to know that have we considered publishing the names of unlicensed res- taurants or those under application for licences to let members of the public know which restaurants possess licences or otherwise?

MR. CHAN KWOK-MING (in English):-Mr. Chairman, Mr. LAU's suggestion is a good one. We would certainly consider that.