Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ11: Unauthorized display of commercial bills/posters
Following is a question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council
today (May 4):
Question:
Recently I have received complaints from the public that illegal posting of
advertisements in public places is rampant, adversely affecting the cityscape.
In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints about illegal posting of advertisements in
public places received by the authorities in each of the past three years;
(b) of the respective numbers of prosecutions instituted for illegal posting of
advertisements and those resulting in the conviction of offenders in each of the
past three years, as well as the fines imposed and the legal costs involved; and
(c) whether there are measures to ameliorate the problem of illegal posting of
advertisements in public places; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for
that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) received around 500,
800 and 1,100 complaints about unauthorized display of commercial bills/posters
in 2002, 2003 and 2004 respectively.
(b) FEHD takes enforcement action against unauthorized display of bills/posters
in accordance with the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance
(Cap. 570) and Sections 104A and 104D of the Public Health and Municipal
Services Ordinance (Cap. 132). The statistics for 2002 to 2004 are shown in
Annex.
The total amount of fines amounted to over $2.4 million, including over $1.8
million from Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) and around $620,000 from the
successful prosecutions by summonses. The latter's average penalty was about
$970.
Normally, no legal cost is incurred for issue of FPNs except when the offender
disputes the notice concerned. Prosecution of unauthorized display of
bills/posters by summonses and dispute cases on FPNs are mainly handled by FEHD
staff who are also vested with other responsibilities. There is no breakdown on
the costs specific to the handling of these cases.
(c) FEHD will continue to tackle the problem of unauthorized display of
bills/posters through cleansing services and enforcement. The department will
allocate additional resources in 2005/06 to engage cleansing workers of
contractors to clear illegal bills/posters at blackspots in districts. Besides,
the department will continue to deploy uniformed and plain clothes officers to
patrol blackspots and take out prosecutions as appropriate.
Ends/Wednesday, May 4, 2005
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