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(a) What licensing criteria are adopted in respect of the above-mentioned small food premises; and

(b) What measures have been or will be taken to improve the situation?

MR. PAO PING-WING, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): The question concerning small-scale food premises is in two parts. The first part enquires about the licensing criteria adopted in respect of food premises such as light refreshment establishments and fast food shops.

In fact, all such food premises must comply fully with health, fire and structural requirements for the issue of the necessary restaurant or food factory licence. For example, the provision of adequate kitchen and food preparation areas as specified in the Food Business (Urban Council) By-laws is one of the main health requirements for a restaurant licence. Fire, structural and means of escape requirements are imposed by the Fire Services Department and the Buildings and Lands Department respectively. The booklet entitled 'A Guide to Application for General and Light Refreshment Restaurant Licences', which was published in September, lists all the various requirements and conditions which must be complied with by prospective applicants and licensees.

The second part of this question asks about the measures that have been or will be taken to improve environmental nuisances caused by the illegal extension of certain food premises.

Extension of licensed food premises onto lanes, footpaths and other open space is a breach of the law and is subject to regular enforcement and prosecution action by the Department. Additional charges for obstructing pedestrian flow can also be laid, if appropriate.

Under current Council policy, convictions under the provisions of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance and subsidiary legislation are recorded against the licensed food premises for the purpose of suspension or cancellation of food licences. A licence is liable to suspension when 15 or more points, calculated under the present demerit points system, are registered against the licensee based on his conviction records within a period of 12 months.

Operators of illegal food businesses, on the other hand, are subject to summary arrest action by the Department for running unlicensed premises. In addition, joint operations with the Police are also mounted periodically to arrest persistent offenders and in such cases the paraphernalia and articles associated with the unlicensed area of the food business are also seized.

Any structure used in connection with an unlicensed food business may also be liable to the grant of a Prohibition Order by the Court upon conviction of the operator. If the unlicensed business continues after the issue of such an Order, the operator will be subject to heavier penalty if convicted of a breach of the Order and the Department may apply to Court for a Closure Order which, if disobeyed, will result in physical closure of the premises.

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As to any noise nuisance generated through the kind of illegal activities to which I have referred, the Commissioner of Police is the competent authority to take action under the Noise Control Ordinance.

It is only by curbing these illegal extensions and unlicensed businesses that the root cause of the environmental problems which they may create can be eradicated. However, notwithstanding the enforcement and prosecution action aimed at stamping out such illegal practices, parallel efforts will continue to minimize any environment nuisance and the Department will do its best to maintain the cleanliness of those pavements and backlanes associated with such activities as part of the regular street cleansing service.

MS. ANNA K. Y. TANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, please allow me to ask two supplementary questions. The Urban Council has a history of over a century and I wonder whether the policy on licensing of food business has been reviewed or not? Ever since 1972, the Council has frozen the number of cooked food stalls and in 1983, a new measure was introduced to improve the environment of the streets. Of course, the spirit and significance are good but I doubt about the practical effects. I don't know whether the Department has reviewed the problem or not? I have some photos with me to illustrate what are happening in some locations. In the past, some cooked food stalls were located there but now some café's or fast food shops are making use of the entire footpaths and open space to place over 30 tables there. They operate illegally in these areas day and night without any inhibition. They simply ignore the presence of the law enforcement staff. Those cooked food stall operators who were asked to move into the cooked food centres in 1983 cannot compete with these fast food shops. They have complained a lot regarding the unfair competition and doubted the effectiveness of what the Council has done in the entire exercise. I have received repeated complaints from the residents regarding this problem, which resulted in a waste of many manpower resources. I hope that a thorough review on the licensing system or measures to curb these illegal food business activities can be conducted. May I also ask how far has been the effectiveness of the exercise to move cooked food stalls on-street into cooked food centres?

MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I think Ms. TANG has asked three questions. The first question is whether we have reviewed the licensing system on food premises. My answer is that our licensing procedure has been laid down according to law. As I have already answered in my main reply that the Fire Services Department and the Buildings and Lands Department have also imposed certain requirements and made necessary amendments from time to time. So this is my answer to the first part of your question. The second question is whether we have reviewed our policy on recovering the cooked food stall licences by granting ex-gratia payment, which has resulted in illegal extension of food premises onto footpath? In fact, the Department has regularly provided statistics and information to the Select Committee from time to time. If the Select Committee considers it necessary, it is always possible to change our policy. Since MS. TANG has raised this problem, perhaps I can refer this back to my Select Committee and consider whether there is a need to conduct a thorough review or to make any changes. I would like to thank you for your suggestion. The third question is what has been the effectiveness of the policy. I would like to provide you with two figures so that you could understand the effectiveness of the policy. In the past one year, 233 operators were prosecuted for making deviation from the approved layout of the premises and there were 285 cases of prosecutions for causing obstruction in public places. From these figures, you can see that the staff of USD have done their job vigorously and perhaps we have not been able to solve the problem once-and-for-all. Certainly, Ms. TANG's views and her photos will be referred back to the Department so that they can take some follow-up actions.

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MR. CHAN TAK-CHOR (in Cantonese):-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. From Mr. PAO's reply, there seems to be the impression that the policy and the monitoring system are perfect. Ms. TANG has just mentioned about the problem in the day time but I discover that the problem of illegal extension is also very serious during night time. I would like to ask Mr. Pao whether the Department has taken special raiding operation to stop people from extending their businesses illegally during night time, particularly in the backlanes. Since the cooked food stalls have been asked to move away but other people had made use the space to extend their businesses illegally. I think this is very unfair to the original cooked food stall operators. Can I ask Mr. PAO whether departmental staff have taken enforcement actions during the night time?

MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, as far as I understand, the staff are taking action during the night time but of course they do not have such frequent patrols as in day time. Basically, they will take actions after receiving complaints particularly from the district boards and members of the public. I must admit that residents suffer more from these night time illegal food businesses. Perhaps the Select Committee will discuss and try to find a solution. I hope Members can understand that it is something that USD cannot deal with alone. We need the co-operation of the Police to mount joint operations. Over the past 12 months, 8 joint operations with the Police had been mounted. So I hope Members will bear in mind that when considering the practical solution to tackle the night time illegal food business activities, such related matters should be taken into account.

MR. WONG SIU-YEE (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I also have a supplementary question. Besides what Ms. TANG mentioned the problem in the streets, in fact some food premises have extended their businesses from the ground floor to other floors within the same building. May I know whether the prosecution figure of 233 has included this situation as mentioned by me? In fact, this situation has been in existence for a long time and is very common. I just don't understand why the Department appears to have exhausted their efforts in doing anything in this area?

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