HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):--Mr. To's suggestion is a correct way to deal with the problem. The Department would try its best to carry out inter-department actions with the District Management Committees. The backlane clearance exercises carried out a few years ago is a good example. I hope we can have such success again.
MR. CHAN KWOK-LEUNG (in Cantonese):-I hope the Department can pay more attention to the deliberate street obstruction by shops. I'm not referring to the temporary obstruction caused by goods loading. The second paragraph of the reply mentioned that the average fine is around $300. Some shops will just take this amount as a slight increase in rent for extension of their business. It cannot produce deterrent effect at all. Some time earlier, the Working Group on Hawker Control has considered applying a fixed penalty system on the control of such problems, because the shops have fixed locations.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the average fine of $376 seems to be a bit low, but the fines are meted out by the Court under restrictions of the ordinance. The maximum fine under the ordinance is $1,500. If the shop operators still obstruct the streets after being warned, he will be imposed a further fine of $25 per day. So, if the shop operators feel that the business turnover can cover the fine, they would continue to obstruct the street. However, on 16 May 1995 we have agreed to adjusting the penalty. The fine of $1,500 will be increased to $2,500 and the daily fine will be increased from $25 to $50. The Standing Committee of Whole Council has endorsed the adjustment. At the present stage, we are awaiting the Legal Department's approval on the draft legislation which will be subsequently submitted to the Legislative Council for endorsement. We hope it will be implemented as soon as possible. As to whether we can adopt the fixed penalty system, just like tickets being issued to traffic offenders, in this regard we are adopting a semi-ticketing system. That is, we issue summonses to the offenders on spot, informing them of the date, time and place of the court hearing. So the summonses need not be sent to the Defendants by the Court. This approach has an advantage. Besides imposing a fine, it will also cause inconvenience to the shop operators. If they don't mind to pay a small amount of fine, they still have to suffer in terms of time, because they have to spend time to appear in court. So, this additional trouble may have a better deterrent effect.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask some follow-up questions. First, referring back to paragraph 6 of the reply, it is mentioned that the Government is considering re-activating the work of the District Management Committee. Does it mean that no such inter-departmental management actions were taken in the past few years and that the Government is reconsidering this matter now?
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* de
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
249
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):--Mr. To's suggestion is a correct way to deal with the problem. The Department would try its best to carry out inter-department actions with the District Management Committees. The backlane clearance exercises carried out a few years ago is a good example. I hope we can have such success again.
MR. CHAN KWOK-LEUNG (in Cantonese):-I hope the Department can pay more attention to the deliberate street obstruction by shops. I'm not referring to the temporary obstruction caused by goods loading. The second paragraph of the reply mentioned that the average fine is around $300. Some shops will just take this amount as a slight increase in rent for extension of their business. It cannot produce deterrent effect at all. Some time earlier, the Working Group on Hawker Control has considered applying a fixed penalty system on the control of such problems, because the shops have fixed locations.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the average fine of $376 seems to be a bit low, but the fines are meted out by the Court under restrictions of the ordinance. The maximum fine under the ordinance is $1,500. If the shop operators still obstruct the streets after being warned, he will be imposed a further fine of $25 per day. So, if the shop operators feel that the business turnover can cover the fine, they would continue to obstruct the street. However, on 16 May 1995 we have agreed to adjusting the penalty. The fine of $1,500 will be increased to $2,500 and the daily fine will be increased from $25 to $50. The Standing Committee of Whole Council has endorsed the adjustment. At the present stage, we are awaiting the Legal Department's approval on the draft legislation which will be subsequently submitted to the Legislative Council for endorsement. We hope it will be implemented as soon as possible. As to whether we can adopt the fixed penalty system, just like tickets being issued to traffic offenders, in this regard we are adopting a semi-ticketing system. That is, we issue summonses to the offenders on spot, informing them of the date, time and place of the court hearing. So the summonses need not be sent to the Defendants by the Court. This approach has an advantage. Besides imposing a fine, it will also cause inconvenience to the shop operators. If they don't mind to pay a small amount of fine, they still have to suffer in terms of time, because they have to spend time to appear in court. So, this additional trouble may have a better deterrent effect.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask some follow-up questions. First, referring back to paragraph 6 of the reply, it is mentioned that the Government is considering re-activating the work of the District Management Committee. Does it mean that no such inter-departmental management actions were taken in the past few years and that the Government is reconsidering this matter now?
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