1993 — Page 12

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

It is hoped that the Central Vetting Panel system can be introduced within three months and that Council can be consulted on the feasibility of introducing a conditional licensing system before the end of this year.

In respect of these initiatives, there are on-going discussions within the Administration and in addition the trade has been consulted and will continue to be consulted as part of this exercise.

THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Mr. WONG's reply is not quite satisfactory. He says that according to record in 1991/92, the average time to issue a licence is 9-10 months. In Hong Kong, efficiency is very important in commercial operations. If a businessman intends to open a food establishment, he can finish his decoration work in 3 months or so. Does it mean that he has to run the risk of paying fines by operating illegally. Regarding the consultation with the catering business as to how to improve the licensing procedures, I would like to ask whether we are aware of the criticism voiced by the trade for a long time against the Council. When we think of our performance pledge to the public, we should also consider shortening the time necessary to issue licences and simplifying the licensing procedure.

CHAIRMAN (in English): Could you put it in a simple question form?

THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese): Can we possibly consider streamlining the licensing procedures and shortening the licensing time as part of our performance pledge?

MR. WONG SHUI-LAI (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, as I said in terms of licensing, several departments such as Fire Services Department and Building and Lands Department are involved. The fastest time for issuing a licence is within 3 months. However, normally speaking, the applicants are not quite well versed with our licensing procedures. Sometimes in the process of application they frequently change their layout plans, thus lengthening the processing time on some occasions. As I said a moment ago, we will have a Central Vetting Panel to meet the applicants from the very beginning. I am sure in the next few months, a proposal will come up whereby the licensing time can be shortened. Thank you.

MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):-Mr. Chairman, in paragraph 6, Mr. WONG speaks of the Central Vetting Panel that gives clear advice whether or not the intended premises are suitable for licensing. And in paragraph 7, he speaks of a conditional licensing system. Is it the provisional intention that if the Central Vetting Panel decides that the premises are suitable to issue a conditional licence then and there?

MR. WONG SHUI-LAI (in Cantonese):-I would like to thank Mr. BERNACCHI for his question. In order to shorten the licensing time, we want to set up a Central

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

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Vetting Panel. As for the conditional licensing system, its feasibility is still being studied. It is hoped that before a licence is formally issued, the applicants may get a temporary licence. However, it is still premature to say something about this conditional licensing. At this stage, we will try to find out ways to shorten licensing time up to a reasonable and acceptance level.

DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):—Mr. Chairman, recently the ICAC made some recommendations on the conditional licensing. Could the Chairman of that Committee confirm that these recommendations by the ICAC will be given serious consideration?

MR. WONG SHUI-LAI (in Cantonese):―Thank you, Dr. Tu. I do not have the ICAC recommendations at hand in detail. We will liaise further with the ICAC and furnish the information to Dr. Tu for reference. I believe that the ICAC recommendations will be discussed at our Central Vetting Panel.

2. MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question (in English):-

(a) What is the average monthly total of the arrests of itinerant hawkers

licensees for hawking offences, including obstruction?

(b) Why arrest? As full details of the address are on the individual's file, cannot the officer concerned on the General Duty Team, take the number of their licence and in due course take the necessary steps to issue a summons, unless such licensed hawker continues with the offices?

MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS AND STREET TRADERS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This is a two-part questions concerning the control of itinerant hawker licensees.

The first part seeks arrest statistics. According to the Departmental statistics, there were totally 11 344 arrests of itinerant hawker licensees over the past twelve months, which averages out at 945 arrests per month.

The second part concerns the tactics in tackling itinerant hawker licensees causing obstruction and suggests that they should be dealt with by way of summons instead of by arrest. For the purpose of effective hawker control, operational staff adopt enforcement tactics flexibly in that action both in the form of summonses and arrests is regularly taken according to the resources and situation on the ground. For instance, summonses are regularly issued to offenders for unlicensed hawking within UC parks and pleasure grounds, and also, where appropriate, to on-street licensed hawkers for breach of minor offences, such as failing to wear hawker badges, selling non-permitted items, etc. In this respect, a total of 2 040 summonses were issued to offenders for various hawking offences during 1991, 1992 and 1993 (January-April). Of these, more than 1 700 summonses were issued to various categories of licensed hawkers for breach of hawker by-laws and other related offences over the same period.

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