Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ2: Newspaper hawker licences
Following is a question by the Hon Wong Ting-kwong and a reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (November
16):
Question:
Some newspaper hawkers who mainly rely on selling cigarettes and newspapers have
relayed to me that their business is worsening because of the significant
increase in tobacco duty by the Hong Kong Government in recent years, as well as
the emergence of a large number of free newspapers and competition from
convenience stores. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the existing number of licensed newspaper hawkers in Hong Kong; and
whether the authorities had issued new licences for newspaper stalls in the past
three years; if they had, of the number of licences issued each year;
(b) in respect of licensed newspaper hawkers, whether the authorities have any
long-term policy on matters such as business environment and the issuance of
licence, etc.; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) apart from relaxing the restriction last year to permit the sale of
additional commodities such as bottled water, etc. at newspaper stalls, whether
the authorities will consider further permitting newspaper hawkers to sell
packaged snacks and make use of the space at their stalls for letting out
advertising space to supplement their income; if they will, of the details; if
not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Street hawking has a long history in Hong Kong. Although such activities may, to
a certain extent, facilitate the public to shop, they may also cause
environmental hygiene problems and noise nuisance as well as obstruction to
public passageways. For many years, the Administration's policy has been to
properly regulate the hawking activities of licensed hawkers and take
enforcement action against illegal hawking.
In 2009, in response to the licensed newspaper hawkers' concern over the
increase in tobacco duty that may result in income loss, as well as their urge
for the Government to help them improve their business environment, the Food and
Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), having consulted the trade, relaxed the
relevant restrictions by expanding the list of additional commodities permitted
for sale to 12 items. On top of the eight commodities already approved (i.e.
tissues, cigarettes, cigarette lighters, sweets, chewing gums, preserved fruits,
battery cells and pens), four more types of items, namely bottled distilled
water, trinkets, lai-see packets and cell phone cards, have been added to the
commodity list. All licensed newspaper hawkers are currently permitted to sell
these 12 items of additional commodities under their licences. The restriction
on area used for the sale of additional commodities is also relaxed by expanding
the space limit from not more than 25% to not more than 50% of the total stall
area. In addition, FEHD allows licensed newspaper hawkers to display within the
confines of their stalls lawful advertisements related to commodities permitted
for sale under the licence without making further application. There is no
restriction on the total space used for display of advertisements, though
considering that public passageways should be obstruction-free, advertisements
should not be extended beyond the confines of the stalls.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) At present, there are 540 licensed newspaper hawkers in Hong Kong. The
Administration has not issued any new newspaper hawker licence over the past
three years.
(b) Since the 1970's, the former Urban Council had generally stopped issuing new
hawker licences and imposed stringent restrictions on succession to and transfer
of hawker licences already issued, with a view to gradually reducing the number
of hawkers by natural attrition. To ensure that the hawker licensing policy
meets public expectation, the Food and Health Bureau and FEHD conducted a review
on the hawker licensing policy earlier and decided, after consultation with the
Legislative Council Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene (with
Members' support received at the meeting held on April 14, 2009), District
Councils, hawker associations and relevant stakeholders, to re-issue new
Itinerant (Frozen Confectionery) Hawker Licences, to relax succession and
transfer arrangements for "Dai Pai Tong" licences without compromising
environmental hygiene, and to make better use of some vacant fixed pitch stalls
in response to different views in the community on hawking activities, including
the aspirations for preservation of local heritage. Given the growing number of
newspaper and magazine retail outlets in recent years, as well as the diverse
public views over on-street trading activities, the Administration has no
intention of issuing new newspaper hawker licences, but will process the
applications for succession to and transfer of newspaper hawker licences in
accordance with the established policy.
(c) Newspaper Hawker Licences are issued mainly for the sale of newspapers and
magazines. Given that the number of additional items permitted to be sold at
newspaper hawker stalls has increased to 12, and licensed newspaper hawkers may
display lawful advertisements relating to the commodities permitted for sale
within the confines of their stalls, the Administration considers that the
relaxation measures have taken into full account the business environment of
newspaper hawker stalls. That said, FEHD will continue to communicate with the
representatives of licensed newspaper hawkers to gauge their views on the
operational arrangements, and consider their proposals on improving their
operating environment.
Thank you, President.
Ends/Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Issued at HKT 12:41
NNNN