Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4
The Social Welfare Department (SWD) today (April 29) reminds charitable organisations wishing to hold flag days from April 2027 to March 2028 that the deadline for related applications is 6pm on May 14.
The application form for flag days together with the explanatory notes can be downloaded from the SWD’s website at www.swd.gov.hk/en/ngo/controlofc/flagdays/index.html. The completed application form together with the required documents should reach the Lotteries Fund Projects Section of the SWD at Rooms 3601-02, 36/F, Dah Sing Financial Centre, 248 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, by 6pm on May 14. Applications for flag days in 2027-28 can also be submitted online. Please refer to the SWD’s website for application details. Late applications will not be considered.
Enquiries can be made by telephone to 2832 4318 or 2832 4301; by fax to 2838 0441; or by email to flagday@swd.gov.hk.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Commissioner of Police leads delegation to visit Singapore The delegation attended the MTX 2026 on April 28 and engaged with the international public safety community to better understand innovative and emerging technologies to enhance public safety. The summit, held biennially, is the largest public safety conference in Southeast Asia serving as a global platform to foster collaboration and advance public safety capabilities through science and technology. The delegation attended keynote sessions and panel discussions on various topics, such as artificial intelligence and network security, and visited key exhibitions showcasing the latest innovations in public safety, demonstrating the HKPF’s ongoing efforts in advancing technology applications and international co-operation.
On the sidelines of the summit, the delegation met with the Commissioner of the Singapore Police Force, Mr How Kwang Hwee, and the Inspector-General of the Royal Malaysia Police, Mr Dato’ Sri Haji Mohd Khalid Ismail, to exchange views on issues of mutual concern. The delegation also engaged with international experts and technology professionals across the public safety ecosystem.
On the same day, Mr Chow also met the Chief Executive of HTX, Mr Chan Tsan. Following the meeting, both sides signed an MOU to strengthen co-operation in leveraging innovative technologies to advance public safety. The MOU provides a broad framework for co-operation in areas of mutual interest, including capability development, knowledge exchange, anti-scam measures, training systems, and exploration of emerging technologies to support policing operations.
Separately, on April 27, the delegation visited the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation, and toured its Digital Forensics Laboratory to gain insights into the application of artificial intelligence in combating transnational cybercrime.
Mr Chow concluded his visit today (April 29) and returned to Hong Kong. Issued at HKT 15:00
Currently, banks generally adopt 75 years minus the age of the property or the borrower (i.e. “75-n”), taking the shorter period as the basis, to calculate a property mortgage term of not more than 30 years. There are views that various measures introduced by the Government in recent years, including the Mandatory Building and Window Inspection Scheme and the Lift Modernisation Subsidy Scheme, have helped to improve the maintenance of many aged buildings. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has maintained the number of transactions of properties aged over 50 years in the past three years;
(2) whether it has maintained the total number of units in private buildings currently aged over 50 years; and
(3) whether the authorities will study promoting to the banking industry to enhance the calculation method of property mortgage terms by uniformly changing the formula from “75-n” to “80-n”?
Reply:
President,
Proper maintenance of private buildings is owners’ primary responsibility. In addition to identifying high-risk private buildings through the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS) for issuing MBIS notices requiring owners to inspect and repair the buildings, the Government also partners with the Urban Renewal Authority to launch a number of building rehabilitation subsidy schemes to support owners in need with proper building maintenance. These schemes include the Operation Building Bright 2.0 and Lift Modernisation Subsidy Scheme (LIMSS), etc. In the 2026-27 Budget, the Government announced that $3 billion would be earmarked for drawing up a new subsidy scheme to assist owners in need with building inspections and repairs, and $1 billion would be allocated to extend the LIMSS.
After consulting the Development Bureau and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), our reply to the three parts of the question is as follows:
(1) & (2) According to the Buildings Department (BD)’s record, as at the end of 2025, there were approximately 11 000 private buildings aged 50 years or above. However, the BD does not maintain records of the number of units involved.
As regards the number of property transactions, the Land Registry (LR)’s function is to register and maintain records of the instruments submitted to the LR, including property sale and purchase agreements, assignments, and mortgages/legal charges. Therefore, the LR does not maintain statistics on transactions of properties by building age.
(3) The approval of loans is a commercial decision made by banks. When processing mortgage applications, banks take into account a host of factors, including the borrower’s repayment capacity and the condition of the building. The age of the property and the borrower are just among various factors of consideration. When considering whether to approve mortgage applications for a residential property, the information regarding the completion of inspection and repair of the building may assist banks in evaluating the condition of the building. The HKMA does not set a specific mortgage term limit based on the age of a property or a borrower. Issued at HKT 14:35
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ2: Subsidy Scheme for Abolition of MPF Offsetting Arrangement The Government launched the Subsidy Scheme for Abolition of MPF Offsetting Arrangement (SSA) on May 1 last year. Employers, after settling severance payment (SP) and long service payment (LSP) to their employees in accordance with the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57), may apply for subsidies under the SSA. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of applications received by the authorities and the average processing time for each case since the launch of the SSA; among such cases, the respective numbers and percentages of applications (i) approved, (ii) refused and (iii) withdrawn (set out in Table 1); whether it has complied statistics on the main reasons for refusal and withdrawal of the applications;
Table 1
Application results(2) of (i) the number of applications received by the authorities, and (ii) the number of applications approved and their percentages since the launch of the SSA, and set out in Table 2 a breakdown by the type of trade of employers involved;
Table 2
Type of trade of employers involved(3) of the total amount of subsidies for all approved cases and the average amount of subsidies for each case since the launch of the SSA;
(4) among the cases in which approval has been completed, of the respective numbers of applications in which an applicant has lodged a review as he/she is not satisfied with the amount of subsidies approved or has lodged an appeal as he/she is not satisfied with the refusal of his/her application since the launch of the SSA, and the percentages of successful appeals or reviews among them; whether it has compiled statistics on the main reasons for refusal of the review or appeal applications;
(5) as according to the paper submitted by the Government to the Finance Committee of this Council on November 22, 2024, the Labour Department (LD) will engage a processing agent to assist in the administration of the SSA, of the following information on the processing agent’s implementation of the SSA since February 1 last year: (i) the preparatory fee collected, (ii) the staffing establishment and strength involved, (iii) the average fee for processing each subsidy application, (iv) the number of spot checks performed on cases processed, (v) the number of enquiries received and processed, and (vi) the number of public engagement activities organised and the number of participants;
(6) as some employees may receive less aggregate benefits due to the change in calculation of the SP/LSP entitlement after the abolition of the offsetting arrangement, and these “worse-off” employees can apply to the LD for a subsidy to make up for the shortfall in their aggregate benefits, of the number of applications for the subsidy received by the authorities and the amount of subsidy involved since May 1 last year; and
(7) whether the LD has received any complaints about suspected premature dismissal of employees by employers before the abolition of the offsetting arrangement took effect in order to save SP or LSP expenses since 2025; if so, of the number of complaints received by the LD, the industries in which the complainants are engaged, and the follow-up on the complaints?
Reply:
President,
The Government implemented the abolition of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) offsetting arrangement on May 1, 2025 (the transition date). Since then, employers can no longer use the accrued benefits derived from their mandatory MPF contributions to offset an employee’s severance payment (SP)/long service payment (LSP) payable under the Employment Ordinance in respect of the employment period starting from the transition date (the post-transition portion of SP/LSP). The reply to the Member’s question is set out below:
(1) As at March 2026, the SSA received a total of 20 790 applications from employers, of which 16 793 applications had been processed. The application results are tabulated below:
Results of application In general, employers will be notified of the application results within 30 working days upon submission of an application and all necessary information and documents.
Refusal of applications is primarily due to factors such as that the employers were not affected by the abolition of MPF offsetting arrangement (for example, the employees involved were exempted persons under the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, or had reached the age of 65 before the transition date and thus the employers were not required to make MPF contributions for the employees in respect of the employment periods from the transition date onwards); or the employees involved did not meet the eligibility criteria for SP/LSP as specified by the Employment Ordinance at the time of termination of employment contracts. The SSA does not inquire about the reasons for withdrawal of applications from the employers concerned.
(2) As at March 2026, a breakdown of applications received and approved under the SSA by industry of the employers involved is at Annex.
(3) As at March 2026, the SSA disbursed a total amount of $42.24 million of subsidy to employers, with an average of $2,700 for each approved application.
(4) Applicants may request reviews of their applications with justifications if they disagree with the results, and may lodge appeals if they disagree with the review results.
As at March 2026, the SSA received 294 review applications from employers, of which 130 were approved (44.2 per cent) after review. Besides, 16 appeal applications submitted by employers under the SSA were refused. The reason for refusing the review or appeal applications was that the applicants could not provide sufficient justifications for altering the original vetting decisions.
(5) The Labour Department (LD) appointed a processing agent (PA) to set up the Service Centre for the SSA and process subsidy applications. Breakdowns of figures for PA’s assistance in the implementation of the SSA are as follows:
(i) The preparatory fee received by PA was $8,800,000.
(ii) The Tender Documents require PA to provide no less than 76 staff members. To ensure quality of service, the actual number of staff members provided by PA as at April 15, 2026, was 93. Details are as follows:
Post(as at April 15, 2026)Examination team leader Customer services team leaderApproving officer Examiner Customer services officer In addition to the above, PA provided five operations management supporting staff.
(iii) As at April 15, 2026, the service fees received by PA for the implementation period of the SSA were $56,888,280. The service fees included the costs for operating the Service Centre and back office, provision of manpower, processing applications in accordance with the operation guidelines and instructions provided by the LD, handling enquiries and complaints, conducting quality assurance checks and internal audit checks on applications, assisting in organising publicity and public engagement activities, executing technical proposals as committed in the Tender Proposal, and carrying out all the tasks as required in the Service Contract. As the service fees reflected the aforementioned services as a whole, the average cost of processing each application cannot be determined.
(iv) As at March 2026, the Service Centre selected a total of 123 applications with processing completed for conducting audit checks.
(v) As at March 2026, the Service Centre received 27 798 enquiries and completed processing of 27 619.
(vi) To assist employers in understanding the SSA, the Government has conducted extensive publicity, including launching the TransitionEase website to disseminate details about applying for subsidies, and organising briefing sessions for employers, employees and human resources practitioners. From January 2025 to March 2026, the LD held a total of 63 briefing sessions, with over 18 800 participants. Besides, the Service Centre organised two briefing sessions in April 2026 to introduce SSA to employers, attracting around 140 participants.
(6) As at March 2026, the SSA received a total of 14 applications from employees applying for subsidy to make up for the shortfall in aggregate benefits. After vetting, two applications were approved with a total subsidy of about $12,000 disbursed and no shortfall in employees’ aggregate benefits after the abolition of the offsetting arrangement was found in respect of four applications. The remaining eight applications are being processed.
(7) The LD has been conducting publicity through various channels to remind employers that dismissing serving employees before the transition date and subsequently rehiring them will not save expenses on SP/LSP. The LD has not received any complaint involving employers allegedly dismissing employees before the abolition of the offsetting arrangement took effect for the purpose of reducing SP/LSP expenses. Issued at HKT 12:45
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ19: Regulating claw machine venues and pinball machine shops It has been reported that in recent years, claw machine venues and pinball machine shops have mushroomed in Hong Kong. Some pinball machine shops feature functions such as “odds” and “points” and offer expensive prizes to solicit business, attracting members of the public or even minors to spend entire days there, thus arousing public concern about issues such as “disguised gambling practices and addiction”. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the following information on reports received by the authorities from members of the public regarding claw machines in each of the past five years: (i) the number of reports (including the number of cases suspected of involving (a) illegal gambling, (b) suspected counterfeit or pirated products, and (c) alleged unfair trade practices), (ii) the number of prosecutions, and (iii) the number of successful convictions (including (a) the number of arrests, (b) the number of venues and machines involved, and (c) the amount of fines);
(2) given that in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on February 12 last year, the Government indicated that the High Court has ruled that typical claw machine venues where people clamp items in the machines upon payment are no longer required to obtain a Places of Public Entertainment Licence under the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance (Cap. 172), whether the authorities have plans to strengthen the regulation and inspection of claw machine venues, including formulating a new licensing system and setting the frequency of regular inspections; if so, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that;
(3) given that in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on the first of this month, the Government indicated that if the operation of a pinball machine shop involves the offering of prizes, an Amusements with Prizes Licence (AWPL) should be obtained, and one of the licensing conditions for AWPL is “no prize offered shall be a money prize”, but it is learnt that some pinball machine shops cash out prizes through methods such as “gift redemption” and “private buybacks” to evade regulation, whether the authorities have proactively conducted regular inspections of all pinball machine shops in Hong Kong, and of the measures taken to curb the above situation; if so, the details;
(4) whether the Hong Kong Police Force and the Home Affairs Department will strengthen co-operation to regularly make public the number of reports, frequency of inspections, and outcome of prosecutions with respect to illegal gambling and unlicensed operations, etc, in pinball machine shops, with a view to enhancing the transparency of relevant information;
(5) given that in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on the first of this month, the Government indicated that it is reviewing matters relating to the regulation of AWPL, whether the scope of the review will cover items such as the business models, value and redemption of prizes, entry age, business locations, and information disclosure requirements with respect to pinball machine shops, and of the respective expected timetables for completing the review and announcing the results; and
(6) as there are views that the prizes and their values currently offered by some claw machine venues and pinball machine shops, as well as the operation modes of the machines, may involve gambling elements and are likely to lead to obsession or even addiction among minors, apart from regulation through enacting legislation, whether the authorities have plans to strengthen co-operation with schools, parents and district organisations to educate minors about the associated risks of addiction and obsession; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that? President,
Having consulted the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) and the Home Affairs Department (HAD), I provide the following consolidated reply to the question raised by the Hon Chan Pui-leung:
Case category The prosecution cases were associated with the offence of possession for sale or for any purpose of trade or manufacture of goods to which a forged trade mark was applied as stipulated under section 9(2) of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance. In the four prosecution cases, C&ED arrested a total of five persons and seized 49 claw machines from 11 shops. In the three convicted cases, the sentences imposed were community service orders or suspended sentence.
(2) to (5) According to the Gambling Ordinance (Cap. 148) (the Ordinance), operating a game of amusement with prizes requires an Amusements with Prizes Licence (AWPL). Furthermore, a Places of Public Entertainment Licence under the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance (Cap. 172) is a prerequisite for any AWPL application. The PWF provides tailored counselling, treatment and other support services to individuals affected by gambling as well as their family members. It also launches targeted public education and publicity campaigns to raise public awareness, particularly among young people, of the harms associated with gambling addiction, including emerging gambling modes, to mitigate their negative impact. These public education measures include funding non-governmental organisations and schools to organise public education programmes focused on the prevention and mitigation of gambling-related problems. Issued at HKT 12:40
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ9: Household electrical products supplied through cross-boundary e-commerce platforms Question:
The Electrical Products (Safety) Regulation (Cap. 406G), made under the Electricity Ordinance (Cap. 406), currently only regulates the safety of household electrical products supplied in Hong Kong. They do not apply to household electrical products supplied to Hong Kong via cross-boundary e-commerce platforms (electrical products). Since 2019, a Cross-border E-commerce Working Group was established between the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) and the General Administration of Customs of the Mainland, with the focus on controlling the risks arisen from cross-border e-commerce platforms, including the reporting of unsafe electrical products supplied through these platforms. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled statistics on the quantity of electrical products supplied to Hong Kong through cross-boundary e-commerce platforms over the past five years; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) of the types, selling prices and non-compliance of the unsafe electrical products supplied through cross-border e-commerce platforms that the EMSD notified the Mainland over the past five years, with the relevant information set out in a table; the ways in which the EMSD conducted spot checks on the relevant products and the standards on which these checks were based;
(3) as the Government has previously stated that, upon receiving notifications from the EMSD regarding unsafe electrical products supplied through cross-border e-commerce platforms, the Mainland Authority will conduct follow-up actions according to the case merits (including proactive measures such as order interception and product delisting) to prevent unsafe electrical products from entering Hong Kong, whether the Government has put in place a similar mechanism or measures to address unsafe electrical products that have already entered the market (such as recall of affected products in Hong Kong); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(4) as electrical products purchased through cross-border e-commerce platforms have not been issued with certificates of safety compliance of Hong Kong, if a fire or electric shock accident occurs due to non-compliance with Hong Kong safety standards, whether the Government has support measures in place to assist consumers in seeking compensation from the platform or the seller;
(5) as the Government has previously stated that it currently has no plans to amend the relevant regulations governing electrical products supplied to Hong Kong through cross-border e-commerce platforms, whether the authorities will consider drawing on the experience of other jurisdictions and requiring cross-border e-commerce platforms to assume the gatekeeping responsibility for ensuring the compliance of the goods they sell; and
(6) as it has been reported that some cross-boundary e-commerce platforms intend to open physical shops in Hong Kong, adopting an offline mode to display products sold on their platforms (including electrical products), whether the authorities will provide relevant guidelines to ensure that the specifications of non-local electrical products displayed in these physical shops of the e-commerce platforms comply with local legal requirements?
Reply:
President,
In response to the question raised by Dr the Hon Thomas So, the reply is as follows:
(1) to (4) The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) is responsible for administering the Electrical Products (Safety) Regulation (Cap. 406G) made under the Electricity Ordinance (Cap. 406), which imposes statutory control on the safety of all household electrical products supplied in Hong Kong to safeguard the public when using these electrical products. At present, if anyone purchases household electrical products through a cross-boundary e-commerce platform, or imports them in person for personal use, such conducts are not regarded as a supply in Hong Kong and thus fall outside the scope of control of the Regulation.
Generally speaking, household electrical products supplied by e-commerce platforms on the Chinese Mainland must comply with the safety requirements of the national China Compulsory Certification (3C Certification). Currently, the safety testing conducted under 3C Certification is based on Guobiao (GB) standards, which are generally equivalent to IEC international standards, meaning that the requirements for the main body of the product are largely consistent with those under the Regulation in Hong Kong.
Since 2019, the Cross-boundary E-commerce Working Group has been established under the Cooperation Arrangement on Electrical and Mechanical Products Safety and Energy Efficiency between the EMSD and the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China. The Working Group focuses on controlling the risks arising from cross-boundary e-commerce platforms. The EMSD reports to the relevant Chinese Mainland authority, through the Working Group, on household electrical products supplied through cross-boundary e-commerce platforms to Hong Kong that fail to comply with the requirements of the abovementioned safety standards. Upon receipt of the report, the relevant Chinese Mainland authorities will take actions based on the actual circumstances, including requesting the e-commerce platforms to intercept orders, so that users with Hong Kong IP addresses will not be able to place orders for the relevant products. After conducting a risk assessment and confirming that the product is unsafe, the relevant authorities will request the e-commerce platforms to remove the product from shelves. The EMSD has extended the testing coverage of household electrical products, proactively conducted sample checks on cross-boundary e-commerce platforms, and engaged third party testing and certification bodies to conduct safety standard testing. If the relevant products are found to have failed to comply with the safety standards, such as posing potential risks of fire or electric shock, the relevant Chinese Mainland authorities will be informed to intercept the import of the unsafe electrical products into Hong Kong. In the first three months of 2026, after preliminary investigations, there were a total of 15 electrical incidents involving household electrical products. None of which involved products supplied through cross-boundary e-commerce services.
The numbers of unsafe electrical products supplied through cross-boundary e-commerce platforms reported by the EMSD to the Chinese Mainland authority through the Working Group in the past five years (2021 to 2025) are tabulated as follows:
Product types The Government does not maintain the number of household electrical products supplied to members of the public in Hong Kong through cross-boundary e-commerce platforms, nor the sales prices of the reported products.
(5) The issues arising from the purchase of household electrical products through cross-boundary e-commerce platforms are complex and span across different jurisdictions. The Government will continue to monitor whether other regions have feasible solutions that suit Hong Kong’s situation, while exploring room for optimising existing legislation to strike a balance between enforcement feasibility, public convenience, and the protection of consumer interests. Meanwhile, the Government will continue the enforcement work under the existing legal framework, and follow up on the issue through a multipronged approach involving interception at source, strengthened inspections, as well as publicity and education.
Regarding publicity and education, the EMSD has been promoting knowledge on electrical products safety and the potential risks of cross-boundary online shopping through various channels. Relevant measures include the display of promotional materials on electronic screens at boundary control points and inside MTR stations, collaboration with departments such as the Home Affairs Department and the Fire Services Department to organise community activities, as well as placement of media advertisements and publish posts on social media platforms. This year, the EMSD has increased its resource allocation to strengthen the dissemination of household electrical products safety information to the public through mass media channels such as television drama placements, radio broadcasts and newspaper columns, in order to enhance public awareness in a comprehensive manner.
(6) The Regulation applies to all household electrical products supplied in Hong Kong. The EMSD has proactively established a regular communication mechanism with Chinese Mainland e-commerce platforms, highlighting that household electrical products supplied in physical shops must comply with local regulations. Currently, only one major Chinese Mainland e-commerce platform has opened a physical shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, and no household electrical products are displayed in the shop. The EMSD will continue to conduct inspections and monitor developments to ensure that the e-commerce platform concerned continues to comply with the relevant requirements. Issued at HKT 12:29
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ17: Strengthening support for foster care service
Year(as at end 2025) The average number of ordinary foster families available for matching (including relief foster families) per month in the past five years are tabulated below:
Year(as at end 2025)(2) to (3) According to the information of the Central Foster Care Unit of the SWD, the number of registered foster families has increased from 954 in 2021-22 to 1 112 in 2025-26 (as at end 2025), representing an increase of about 16.6 per cent. Whereas the number of foster families withdrawn from service has decreased from 71 to 31, representing a decrease of about 56.3 per cent. The primary reasons for withdrawing from foster care service include caring for other family members or personal plans, such as travelling or taking a break. The number of registered foster families and foster families withdrawn from service in the past five years are tabulated below:
Year(as at end 2025) The age distribution of foster parents in the past five years are tabulated below:
Age distribution of foster parents The Government has been promoting foster-family-friendly measures, including tax exemption for the incentive payments for foster parents. Starting from April 1, 2024, half of the incentive payments (including incentive payment for foster parents/foster parents (emergency) and various extra incentive payments) received under foster care service of the SWD are exempted from income calculation for the purpose of public rental housing application and Well-off Tenants Policies declaration.
To further strengthen support for foster care services and encourage more dedicated individuals to become foster parents, the Government has implemented a series of enhancement measures in recent years, including substantial increase of the incentive payment for foster parents from April 2024. The monthly incentive payment of ordinary foster care service has been increased more than double from around $5,000 to about $11,000; and that for emergency foster care service has been doubled from around $6,600 to about $13,000.Issued at HKT 12:25
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ22: Ensuring safety of aquatic food products imported from Japan Question:
In August 2023, the Government issued the Food Safety Order (the Order) to prohibit the import of aquatic, sea salt and seaweed food products originating from 10 regulated metropolis/prefectures of Japan into Hong Kong. According to the information in the press releases previously issued by the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, there has been an aggregate of 30 or so cases in suspected breach of the Order since its implementation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective cycles and numbers of inspections and sample tests conducted by the CFS in accordance with the risk-based principle on aquatic food products imported from Japan since the implementation of the Order; whether the CFS has conducted screening of the customs clearance documents for each consignment of imported aquatic food products; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) of the number of cases involving entry into Hong Kong by air and by sea among the imported aquatic products and their by-products that have been intercepted for suspected breach of the Order since its implementation; whether the Government has examined the supply and distribution of such products by the importers involved in those cases, and of the respective numbers of licensed food premises and food product sellers involved;
(3) of the following information on the cases in suspected breach of the Order mentioned in part (2): (i) the number of licensed food importers prosecuted (and the number of repeated offenders among them); (ii) the progress of each prosecution case; (iii) the penalties imposed in convicted cases (such as warnings and fines); and (iv) the average amount of fine imposed in each convicted case; and
(4) as the Government hosted five online briefing sessions for relevant trades during the initial implementation of the Order, whether the Government has any plans to host regular briefing sessions for the food importing industry to step up the explanation of the arrangements under the Order, so as to reduce the chance of an inadvertent breach of the Order by the industry?
Reply:
President,
To safeguard food safety and protect public health in Hong Kong in response to Japan’s 30-year plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at Fukushima into the ocean, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has issued a Food Safety Order (the Order) to prohibit all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweed food products originating from 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong starting from August 24, 2023.
For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweed food products that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the FEHD conducts comprehensive radiological tests to verify that their radiation levels do not exceed the guideline levels set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission before they are allowed to be imported.
A reply to the various parts of the Hon Joephy Chan’s question is as follows:
(1) Since the Order commenced operation, the CFS has been screening all customs clearance documents for aquatic, sea salt and seaweed food products imported from Japan and conducting radiological tests on every consignment of these products. As at April 21, 2026, the CFS had taken a total of 140 038 samples from all consignments of the above food products for radiological tests. To date, no samples have been found to exceed the permitted radiation levels.
(2) and (3) Since the Order commenced operation, as at April 21, 2026, the CFS has identified a total of 51 cases of suspected breach of the Order by importers. Among these cases, altogether 37 importers were involved and eight of them were repeat offenders; and 42 cases involved entry into Hong Kong by air and nine by sea. All the aquatic products, sea salt and seaweed food products involved were detained and inspected by the CFS at the boundary control points. None entered the market for supply to licensed food premises or for sale.
The CFS will follow up on each case by, inter alia, notifying the Japanese authorities of the incidents. Prosecution will be instituted against the importers concerned should there be sufficient evidence. Regarding the cases mentioned above, the CFS has instituted a total of 45 prosecutions against the importers concerned. Of these, 43 cases resulted in convictions with fines ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 while the remaining two cases are being processed.
(4) The CFS has been explaining the Order and other control measures on Japanese imported food products to the trade and stakeholders through various channels. Apart from holding five thematic online briefing sessions, the CFS has also conducted three Trade Consultation Forums and set up a thematic webpage. The webpage provides detailed information on the Order and other control measures on Japanese imported food products, as well as the situation update of radiation tests on Japanese imported food products. As the Order has now been in operation for nearly three years, the industry is generally aware of the requirements. The CFS will conduct further promotion to the industry as necessary, and will continue to announce cases of suspected breaches of the Order by importers so identified via press releases to notify the public and to remind the industry. Issued at HKT 12:22
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
In anticipation of a large number of visitors to Sai Kung East Country Park, Sharp Island and Shui Hau on Lantau Island during the Mainland’s Labour Day Golden Week (May 1 to 5), the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) today (April 29) announced the following preparation and deployment of management work at ecotourism hotspots during the holiday period: