Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ11: Hawker control policy
Following is a question by the Hon Wong Yuk-man and a written reply by the
Acting Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Gabriel Leung, in the
Legislative Council today (May 11):
Question:
According to government information, the Food and Environmental Hygiene
Department (FEHD) mounted 123,877 raids against hawkers in 2010, i.e. a daily
average of about 340 operations. In recent years, conflicts between hawkers and
Hawker Control Teams (HCTs) have time and again been reported in the newspapers,
and an enforcement action in Tai Hang on the 10th of April this year became the
headlines of several newspapers. In this connection, will the Government inform
this Council:
(a) of the number of prosecutions instituted in 2010 by the staff of FEHD
against hawkers' unlicensed or illegal hawking; and the number of retired
elderly people among those people who were prosecuted;
(b) among the 1,561 joint departmental operations against illegal hawking in
2010, of the number of cases involving "assault on police officers" and "assault
on public officers";
(c) of the number of hawkers who were repeatedly prosecuted by staff of FEHD in
2010; and whether there is any practice against hawkers which is similar to
putting them "on a watch list";
(d) of the number of goods and paraphernalia seized by HCTs in the past three
years; whether the authorities have considered returning such goods and
paraphernalia; if they have not, of the reasons for that;
(e) of the justifications for the staff of FEHD to conduct sentinel surveillance
beside hawkers and retailers; and
(f) given that a man promoting telecommunication services sought my assistance a
month or so ago claiming that he had repeatedly received penalty tickets from
FEHD within a few days, and he suspected that the staff of FEHD had started to
step up law enforcement in February and March this year to clear from the
streets those people who promoted telecommunication services and distributed
handbills, whether the authorities had issued any instruction on stepping up
enforcement to the law enforcement staff between January and March this year?
Reply:
President,
The duties of Hawker Control Teams (HCTs) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene
Department (FEHD) mainly cover three areas, including taking action against
illegal hawking, shop-front extension and illegal promotional activities for
products and services. The Government's policy on hawker control is to regulate
the hawking activities of licensed hawkers and take enforcement action against
illegal hawking. As regards illegal hawking, FEHD's enforcement policy makes
certain allowance for hawkers. If the hawking activity does not involve the
selling of prohibited or restricted food or cooked food and is not conducted in
major thoroughfares or areas of high pedestrian flow, HCT officers will give
warning first before taking enforcement action and prosecution action will be
taken only if the verbal warning is not heeded. Furthermore, if elderly or
disabled hawkers are involved, HCT officers will exercise their powers in a
reasonable manner in light of the actual circumstances. However, under the
overarching objective of ensuring food safety and safeguarding public health,
HCTs will still take immediate enforcement action against unlicensed hawkers
selling prohibited/restricted food or cooked food. It is necessary for hawker
control measures to achieve a proper balance between protection of public health
and flexibility in enforcement action.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) FEHD often receives complaints from district councils and the public
regarding illegal hawking, shop-front extension as well as obstruction of
passageways caused by promotional activities. A total of 29,811 convicted cases
of these illegal activities were initiated by FEHD in 2010. FEHD does not have
breakdowns of the offenders.
(b) Among the 1,561 HCT joint departmental operations carried out in 2010, there
were two cases involving assault on public officers and none involving assault
on police officers.
(c) Hawker control operations aim to protect public health, ensure food safety
and environmental hygiene, and maintain unobstructed access to busy places and
main thoroughfares. Depending on the actual situation, FEHD staff will take
enforcement actions against illegal hawking in accordance with the relevant
policies. Whether the offender has been prosecuted before is not a factor for
consideration. Nor does FEHD have any so-called watch list of hawkers.
Statistics shows that in 2010, 5,132 persons were prosecuted twice or more for
repeatedly hawking without a licence or committing other hawker related
offences.
(d) When arresting unlicensed hawkers, HCTs seize the hawker equipment and
commodities concerned in accordance with the powers vested in them under Section
86 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance. It is also provided in
the Ordinance that the court shall order the forfeiture of the equipment or
commodities concerned upon the hawkers' conviction of unlicensed hawking. In the
three years from 2008 to 2010, there were a total of 17,919 cases of seizure of
goods and paraphernalia upon conviction of unlicensed hawking. FEHD does not
keep statistics on the number of goods and paraphernalia seized.
(e) HCT members are deployed to carry out static patrols at blackspots of
unlicensed hawking or locations where obstruction caused by shop-front extension
is found, with a view to achieving a deterrent effect.
(f) Regarding the use of easy-mount frames for on-street product and service
promotional activities, with the consent of the district councils concerned,
FEHD has instituted prosecutions against offenders in the relevant districts
since October 2008, and seized the promotional materials and easy-mount frames
as exhibits. After conducting a review on the enforcement practice, and to
further control the above-mentioned irregularities, starting from March this
year, FEHD law enforcement officers have begun to issue fixed penalty notices to
offenders. Before changing the enforcement practice, the FEHD carried out a
two-week promotion and education campaign, giving advice and warning to the
people concerned, including issuing warning letters to those commercial
organisations using easy-mount frames and similar devices for displaying
commercial promotional materials and conducting promotional activities in the
street.
Ends/Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Issued at HKT 14:57
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