Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     Hong Kong Customs on June 29 seized a large batch of suspected smuggled alternative smoking products, with an estimated market value of about $12 million, at the Tuen Mun River Trade Terminal Customs Cargo Examination Compound.

     Through risk assessment, Customs on that day inspected a 40-foot container, declared as carrying plastic lunch boxes, arriving in Hong Kong from the Mainland. After inspection, Customs officers found 64 486 suspected smuggled alternative smoking products in the container.

     An investigation is ongoing. The likelihood of arrests is not ruled out.

     Customs will continue to take stringent enforcement actions against all kinds of smuggling activities through risk assessment and intelligence analysis.

     Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
​
     Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

Hong Kong Customs yesterday (July 18) seized 11 live lizards of suspected scheduled endangered species at Hong Kong International Airport, with an estimated market value of about $205,000.

Through risk assessment, Customs officers intercepted a parcel declared to contain pet chew stick imported from Australia to Hong Kong yesterday. Upon inspection, Customs officers found the batch of live lizards of suspected scheduled endangered species mix-loaded with pet products and concealed in multiple metal boxes in the parcel.

The case was handed over to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for follow-up action.

Under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (Cap. 586), any person importing, exporting or possessing specimens of endangered species not in accordance with the Ordinance commits an offence and will be liable to a maximum fine of $10 million and imprisonment for 10 years upon conviction with the specimens forfeited.

Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, started his visit to Vientiane, Laos, today (July 20) and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Finance of Laos on fostering co-operation in gold market and financial services between the two places. 

     The MOU was signed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Laos, Mr Santiphab Phomvihane, and Mr Hui on behalf of the Ministry of Finance of Laos and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau. Aiming to strengthen bilateral co-operation in gold market and financial services industry development, the MOU outlines clear areas of collaboration, including promoting physical gold flows by facilitating access for qualified Lao gold owners to Hong Kong’s accredited refining network,  encouraging the wider use of refined gold bars meeting international standards for trading and delivery in Hong Kong, and fostering talent development and fintech collaboration including tokenisation solutions.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, at the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony with the Ministry of Finance of Laos today (July 20):

Your Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Phomvihane (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Laos, Mr Santiphab Phomvihane), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to this very significant signing ceremony today. The Memorandum of Understanding we are about to sign marks a milestone in the deepening friendship and economic partnership between Hong Kong and Laos. Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, our two sides are building upon warm and growing ties to create new opportunities for mutual interests and prosperity.

Hong Kong has long served as an international financial centre with world-class infrastructure, deep capital markets, and a robust regulatory environment. We are now accelerating our development as a leading gold trading, clearing, and reserve hub for Asia and beyond. Earlier this month, Hong Kong’s new central gold clearing and settlement system commenced trial operation, and we have announced a comprehensive package of targeted initiatives to support our gold market development. These include a co-operation initiative with the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the launch of a new HAU price ticker in which AU is the reference to gold in the periodic table while H refers to Hong Kong, expansion of storage capacity to beyond 2 000 tonnes in three years’ time, diversification of gold investment products such as ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and futures, exploration of tax incentives, co-ordinated insurance arrangements, and the establishment of an industry-led trade association. These steps closely align with our country’s 15th Five-Year Plan, and will support Hong Kong in building and enhancing our commodity trading ecosystem. These initiatives will enhance physical delivery, risk management, connectivity with the Mainland, and our overall market depth – creating new investment opportunities and injecting fresh momentum into our financial sector.

Our MOU with Laos to be signed today on fostering gold market co-operation perfectly complements these developments. It represents our shared commitment to strengthen communication and knowledge exchange in financial services, with a particular focus on gold market development. Through this partnership, we will work together to realise a seamless, efficient, and trusted gold corridor that benefits producers, refiners, traders, and investors in both our economies.

The MOU outlines clear areas of collaboration. We will promote physical gold flows by facilitating access for qualified Lao gold owners to Hong Kong’s accredited refining network and encouraging the use of refined gold bars meeting international standards in our market. We will strengthen financial market linkages – leveraging Hong Kong’s capital markets and infrastructures – to provide Lao market participants with liquidity, efficient price discovery, and international capital. We will also pursue joint international promotion across Belt and Road partner countries, foster talent development and fintech collaboration including tokenisation solutions, enhance regulatory collaboration on AML (anti-money laundering) and best practices, and promote a conducive business environment. Hong Kong’s competitive tax regime – with no sales tax nor import duty on investment-grade gold, and no capital gains tax – positions us as an efficient hub, and we look forward to exploring more targeted initiatives with Laos.

Co-operative activities will be flexible and practical, including exchange of best practices, joint projects, workshops and exchange visits. Each side may involve relevant regulators, institutions, and industry representatives as appropriate.

Ladies and gentlemen, today’s signing is the beginning of a dynamic and evolving partnership. By combining Laos’ natural gold endowment with Hong Kong’s world-class infrastructure, expertise, and international connectivity, we can transform resources into investable, transparent assets that drive sustainable economic growth for both markets.

I extend my sincere appreciation to our Laos’ counterparts for their vision and collaborative spirit. Thank you.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     With a view to combating counterfeit goods activities related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup involving cross-boundary transshipments and online sales, Hong Kong Customs conducted an enforcement operation codenamed “Clean Sheet” between May 26 and yesterday (July 19). A total of 50 related cases were detected and about 240 000 items of suspected counterfeit goods, with a total estimated market value of about $159 million, were seized. 
 
     During the operation, 13 local men, aged between 15 and 59, were arrested. 
 
     Investigations into the cases are ongoing, and the arrested persons have been released on bail pending further investigation. The likelihood of further arrests has not been ruled out.
 
     Customs appeals to consumers to purchase goods at reputable shops or websites to avoid buying counterfeit goods. Practitioners in the logistics industry should also comply with the requirements of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO) and check with the trademark owners or authorised agents if the authenticity of a product is in doubt. Traders should also be cautious and prudent in merchandising since selling counterfeit goods is a serious crime, and offenders are liable to criminal sanctions.
 
     Customs will continue to step up inspections and conduct intelligence-led enforcement to vigorously combat different types of counterfeit and infringing goods activities.
 
     Under the TDO, any person who imports or exports or sells or possesses for sale any goods to which a forged trademark is applied commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
 
     Members of the public may report any suspected counterfeiting activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:

Please broadcast the following special announcement immediately, and repeat it at frequent intervals:

“The Social Welfare Department announces that while the Red Rainstorm Warning Signal has been issued, all units providing child care centre services, services under the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project, and after school care programmes for pre-primary or primary school children, elderly services centres, day pre-school rehabilitation services units and day rehabilitation units including integrated vocational rehabilitation services centres, integrated vocational training centres and day activity centres will remain open during their normal operating hours. If necessary, members of the public can contact the centres or services units to make arrangements for the safe return home of their children and family members.”

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The Hospital Authority (HA) spokesperson announced today (July 19) that the public healthcare fees and charges reform, which has been implemented for half a year, has not only effectively enhanced efficiency and reduced waste, but also significantly strengthened protection for poor, acute, serious, and critical patients. The HA will analyse the effectiveness of the Reform at this stage and study further reform measures to make the public healthcare system a safety net better safeguarding the health of the public.

The public healthcare fees and charges reform has yielded remarkable results in its measures to protect poor patients. The expansion of the medical fee waiver mechanism has drastically increased the potential number of beneficiaries from about 900 000 in the past to approximately 2 million. Since the implementation of the reform, the number of beneficiaries of medical fee waivers has surged. As of June 30, the HA had received a total of 289 799 applications, of which 264 087 were approved. The approval rate exceeded 90 per cent, which is nearly 19 times of approximately 14 000 patients who received medical fee waivers in the full year prior to the reform. Excluding those who have been benefiting from medical fee waivers both before and after the reform (including Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients, recipients of Old Age Living Allowance aged 75 or above, and holders of Level 0 Vouchers under the Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly), there were already about 900 000 patient attendances benefited from the enhanced medical fee waiver mechanism in the first half of this year, with the vast majority being fully waived.

Furthermore, the HA has introduced a cap on annual spending of $10,000 without requiring financial assessment, providing more comprehensive protection for members of the public who unfortunately suffer from serious or chronic illnesses, thereby protecting them from impoverishment due to illness. As of June 30, for the 10 595 patients whose applications were approved, all other eligible medical fees for the remainder of this financial year will be fully waived.

The public healthcare fees and charges reform has also strengthened subsidies for the application of innovative drugs and medical devices for critical patients. Over the past six months, the HA has incorporated 16 new drugs (including seven targeted therapy drugs for cancer treatment) into the HA Drug Formulary. Among them, six were included in the Special Drugs category, meaning patients only need to pay the standard drug fee (i.e. $20 every four weeks) under specific clinical applications; another five are self-financed drugs subsidised by the safety net. The estimated additional annual expenditure involved is $134 million.

In addition, during the same period, 17 newly added drugs/medical devices or relaxations of clinical indications (including 10 items related to cancer drugs) were covered under the scope of the Samaritan Fund (SF) subsidy, involving an estimated additional annual expenditure of $46 million. Concurrently, the HA will include another 10 newly added drugs or expanded clinical indications and 26 self-financed medical devices into the subsidy scope of the SF this month.

The reform has also relaxed the financial assessment criteria for SF subsidies, strengthening drug and medical device support for critical patients, including those from middle-income families. Compared with the same period in the first half of last year, the approved subsidy amounts for drug and non-drug items under the SF increased by about 22 per cent and 10 per cent to $1.28 billion and $220 million respectively. The number of approved applications for drug and non-drug items involving non-Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients increased by about 21 per cent and 10 per cent to about 4 500 and 2 100 cases respectively. Among them, the patient’s contribution in about 1 070 drug subsidy cases decreased due to the relaxation of the Fund’s application eligibility, while over 80 non-drug subsidy cases changed from generally not being subsidised by the Fund before the relaxation to receiving subsidies.

Following the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, the service and efficiency of Accident and Emergency Departments (A&Es) have also been enhanced. In the first six months of this year, a total of 913 248 attendances were recorded across the 18 A&Es under the HA, representing a decrease of 3.9 per cent compared with the same period last year. Among them, priority treatment for Triage Category I (Critical) and Category II (Emergency) cases fully met the target, and these 44 522 attendances were fully exempted from A&E fees under the new fees and charges mechanism. The proportion of Triage Category III (Urgent) cases treated within 30 minutes meeting the service pledge target increased from 81.4 per cent to 88.5 per cent, with the average waiting time reduced from 23 to 20 minutes. Attendances for Triage Category IV (Semi-urgent) and Category V (Non-urgent) cases decreased by about 10 per cent, with non-urgent cases dropping by about 20 per cent.

The HA spokesperson added that following the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, the HA can deploy more resources to strengthen care for emergency patients and critical patients. A&Es focus resources on critical care, serving as the most effective protection for emergency patients. The HA’s safety net also provides better protection for critical patients, with more effective medical devices and drugs with fewer side effects being included in the subsidy scope, thereby enhancing treatment efficacy.

These results reflect the positive impact of the fees and charges reform in guiding patients to use healthcare services appropriately, reducing default appointments and resource wastage, and improving the utilisation efficiency of public healthcare resources. Following the implementation of the new booking and payment arrangements in mid-April, the number of default appointments for Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Ultrasonography scans between April and June this year decreased by about 28 per cent, 40 per cent, and 35 per cent respectively compared with the same period last year. Preliminary estimates suggest that these improvements equate to an annual saving of about 6 000 CT, 2 500 MRI, and 9 000 ultrasonography appointments, which is roughly equivalent to the annual service capacity of one CT scanner, one MRI scanner, and two ultrasound scanners. This further enhances examination capacity and resource utilisation efficiency, allowing patients in need to undergo examinations sooner.

Patients’ habits when using public healthcare services have also changed, as they have become more prudent in utilising limited services and resources. Taking the habit of collecting “as needed” medications (such as artificial tears or topical preparations for pain) as an example, as of June 30, the demand for “as needed” medications has generally dropped by about 12 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The HA spokesperson stressed that the data clearly reflects the correct direction of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, which is yielding initial results. In accordance with the policies of the Health Bureau, the HA is summarising the reform experience at this stage to prepare for the next phase of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, progressing step by step in the direction of the reform to continuously enhance public healthcare services for the benefit of patients.