Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Following is a question by the Hon Edward Leung and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Dr Bernard Chan, in the Legislative Council today (September 25):
Question:
Regarding the Special 100% Loan Guarantee (Special Loan), will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective default rates of the 80% Guarantee Product, the 90% Guarantee Product and the Special 100% Guarantee Product under the Special Loan in each year since their establishment, and the latest loan guarantee amount of default cases undertaken by the authorities;
(2) whether it has compiled statistics on the number of companies involved in default cases under the Special Loan that have also applied for the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund (PWIF), and the percentage they account for; whether the authorities have investigated such cases of abuse of the Special Loan and PWIF, and whether they have studied measures to prevent abuse of the PWIF; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(3) whether it has compiled statistics on the respective numbers of default cases and bankruptcy applications for relevant companies in the first month, the second to third months, the fourth to fifth months, and six months or more after they commenced repayment of the Special Loan; and
(4) regarding enterprises involved in default cases and bankruptcy, whether the authorities have investigated if such cases involved transfer of assets; if investigations were conducted, whether prosecutions have been instituted and of the details of the relevant cases; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Government has been providing loan guarantees through the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme (SFGS) since 2012 to help small and medium enterprises obtain commercial loans, and kept on introducing enhancement measures to meet the financing needs of SMEs during economic downturn. The application period of the Special 100% Guarantee Product under the SFGS ended in end-March 2024.
Having consulted the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Labour Department (LD), the reply to the four parts of the question is as follows:
(1) The default rates and loan guarantee amounts of default cases of various guarantee products under the SFGS are calculated on a cumulative basis. As at end-August 2025, the cumulative loan guarantee amounts of default cases of the 80%, 90% and Special 100% Guarantee Products were about $5.4 billion, $1.2 billion and $25.5 billion respectively, and the cumulative default rates were about 5.4 per cent, 4.5 per cent and 17.7 per cent respectively, lower than the assumed overall default rates (12 per cent, 16 per cent and 25 per cent respectively). The default rates are subject to change having regard to the overall economic environment, and the operational situation of individual borrowing enterprises, etc. The Government and the HKMC Insurance Limited (HKMCI), which is responsible for administering and managing the SFGS, will continue to monitor the situation closely.
(2) Established under the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Ordinance (Cap. 380), the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund (PWIF) aims to provide timely financial relief in the form of ex gratia payment to employees in the event of business closure of their insolvent employers, which saves them from waiting for the completion of lengthy bankruptcy/winding-up proceedings of their employers to promptly recover arrears in wages, pay for untaken annual leave, pay for untaken statutory holidays, wages in lieu of notice and/or severance payment being owed. The Government takes a serious view on suspected abuses of the PWIF, and has set up an inter-departmental Task Force comprising representatives from the LD, the Commercial Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force (the Police) and the Official Receiver’s Office (ORO) to strengthen proactive investigation of suspicious cases. The LD rigorously verifies and closely monitors every application to the PWIF. If the company responsible persons are suspected of illegal transfer of assets, theft of company money, evasion of liabilities by deception, failure to keep proper accounting records, etc., the LD will refer such cases to the Police and/or the ORO for follow-up. When processing the PWIF applications made by employees, the LD examines the employment and wages records of employees. Since the objectives and the beneficiaries of the PWIF and the SFGS are different, the LD does not need to consider whether the relevant employers are borrowing enterprises under the SFGS, while the lending institutions, during the course of taking recovery/legal actions against the borrowing enterprises, do not consider whether the employees of the borrowing enterprises are simultaneously taking actions against the enterprises to recover their wages and/or applying for the PWIF.
(3) As at end-August 2025, the cumulative number of delinquent cases calculated based on the time of occurrence of delinquency of borrowing enterprises is as follows:
Time of occurrence of delinquency
(calculated from the loan starting/drawdown date to the date of delinquency)
80% Guarantee Product
90% Guarantee Product
Special 100% Guarantee Product
(i) Not more than 180 days
151
(6.5%)
109
(9%)
374
(3.1%)
(ii) 181 days to one year
325
(14.0%)
288
(23.8%)
1 386
(11.7%)
(iii) More than one year
1 843
(79.5%)
812
(67.2%)
10 120
(85.2%)
Total
2 319
(100%)
1 209
(100%)
11 880
(100%)
As at end-August 2025, in respect of the 80%/90% Guarantee Products and the Special 100% Guarantee Product, lending institutions have been taking recovery actions against 1 784 and 11 220 default cases respectively. Among them, bankruptcy proceedings have been commenced or bankruptcy orders had been granted by the court against the guarantors in 1 130 and 2 860 cases, and liquidation/other legal actions have been/are being taken in 1 162 and 2 454 cases respectively.
(4) The HKMCI has been working closely with lending institutions on properly handling delinquent cases. In the event that a borrowing enterprise defaults on repayments, the lending institution will first discuss a feasible repayment plan with the borrowing enterprise, e.g. repaying only the interest or part of the principal during a transition period, so that the borrowing enterprise can continue its operation while making a debt restructuring arrangement as soon as possible, with a view to gradually resuming normal repayments. At the same time, lending institutions will review the asset status of the borrowing enterprises and the guarantors. If the lending institution and the borrowing enterprise could not reach agreement on the repayment or the latter refuses to co-operate, or transfer of assets are identified, the lending institution will consider taking appropriate recovery/legal actions in accordance with its policy and prevailing commercial practice, including requesting the enterprise and guarantor to repay the loan, applying to the court for an order and other follow-up actions (e.g. apply to the court for charging orders to prevent enterprises or guarantors from evading repayment obligations by transferring real estate properties), filing a petition for winding-up and/or bankruptcy with the court, etc. with a view to reducing the loss of the Government.
The existing statutory procedures and relevant legislation in respect of bankruptcy and winding-up proceedings have provided effective safeguards against fraudulent transfer of assets by debtors and debtor companies. Regardless of whether a case involves defaults under the SFGS, such fraudulent acts are in breach of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) or the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32).
In bankruptcy and winding-up cases, the trustees and liquidators responsible for case administration will investigate the affairs of the debtors and debtor companies, including whether there were any unfair preferences given, transactions at an undervalue or improper disposals of assets prior to the bankruptcy or winding-up. In cases of improper disposals of assets, appropriate actions will be taken by the trustees and liquidators to recover the relevant assets. Under the Bankruptcy Ordinance and the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, where the trustees or liquidators discover that a debtor or an officer of a debtor company is suspected of having fraudulently transferred any property, they shall provide the ORO with the relevant evidence for consideration and follow-up. If sufficient evidence is available, the debtor or the officer of the debtor company will be prosecuted in accordance with the relevant ordinance, and upon conviction, is liable to imprisonment for up to two years.
The 2025 final registers of electors for geographical constituencies (GCs) and functional constituencies (FCs) were released today, the Registration & Electoral Office announced.
A total of 4,138,992 electors are carried in the final register for GCs, it added.
The final register for FCs contains 185,277 individual electors and 8,397 corporate electors, comprising a total of 193,674.
Relevant statistics have been uploaded to the voter registration website.
Notices on the inspection of the final registers of electors were gazetted today.
According to law, a copy of registers containing entries relating to individuals may only be shown in accordance with the statutory requirements, and made available for inspection by specified persons.
A copy of registers containing only entries of bodies may be inspected by the public.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
​To celebrate with members of the public the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Electoral Information Centre (EIC) of the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) (Address: 7/F, Treasury Building, 3 Tonkin Street West, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon) will hold National Day Open Days on September 30 (Tuesday) and October 1 (Wednesday).
The Open Days will offer a wide range of programmes, including mock polling sessions and various interactive games, with a view to deepening public knowledge of the electoral system through diverse activities. Visitors can also take photos with the National Day decorations and the festively dressed Ballot Box Family mascots at the venue. They will also have a chance to win souvenirs.
The EIC will be open for individual visits from 2pm to 6pm on the Open Days. The visits will be free of charge and on a first-come, first-served basis until the quota is full. Members of the public who are interested may call the REO’s hotline at 2891 1001 during office hours from 8.45am to 6pm to make an appointment from today (September 25) until September 29.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ20: Regulating cross-boundary online shopping
Year The C&ED has all along been applying risk assessment and intelligence analysis, and maintaining close intelligence exchange with the Mainland law enforcement agencies to combat cross-boundary smuggling activities. Apart from reviewing relevant documents (such as manifests, advance cargo information, etc) and conducting risk management on all cargoes importing into and exporting from Hong Kong through land boundary control points for selecting suspicious cargoes for inspection (via scanning by X-ray checker and ion scanner, open examination and sniffing by Customs detector dogs, etc), the C&ED flexibly deploys its internal resources to mount targeted anti-smuggling operations in a timely manner to prevent prohibited articles or controlled items from importing into and exporting out of Hong Kong illegally. The C&ED does not maintain daily average figures of the import cargoes inspected.
(2) The number of smuggling cases (via cargo mode) detected by the C&ED at land boundary control points from 2020 to 2024 is as follows:
Year The detailed figures by the types of major items seized are at Annex.
(3), (4) and (6) The C&ED makes use of enforcement strategies of risk management, intelligence exchange and analysis to combat the illegal imports of various types of prohibited articles. Customs officers conduct checking and clearance on passengers, cargoes and conveyances at various control points, and mount joint enforcement actions with the Mainland Customs from time to time to combat cross-boundary smuggling activities of various articles.Issued at HKT 14:22
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Following is a question by Dr the Hon Tik Chi-yuen and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (September 25):
Question:(ii) Co-payment for those who can afford it and for those with mild conditions: The Government will reasonably expand and enhance the co-payment mechanism; (iii) Enhancement and reduction: Protection for “poor, acute, serious, critical” patients will be enhanced and wastage will be reduced; (iv) High subsidisation: The high level of subsidy will be maintained after the reform, with the target of maintaining the 90 per cent overall public subsidisation rate; and (v) Gradual and orderly progress: The objective will be achieved in a progressive and orderly manner in five years.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ11: Enhancing regulation of cross-boundary remittance services It has been reported that quite a number of disputes and complaints involving cross-boundary remittance services have arisen in recent years, and the public has much concern about the security of cross-boundary remittances to the Mainland. Regarding enhancing regulation of cross-boundary remittance services, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) from 2019 to July 2025, of the respective numbers of (i) premises for operating cash note exchange and (ii) premises for operating cryptocurrency trading in Hong Kong that obtained a Money Service Operator (MSO) licence and operated remittance services (set out in Table 1);
Year(2) from 2019 to July 2025, of the number of complaints or requests for assistance received by the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) concerning remittances from Hong Kong to the Mainland, as well as the amounts involved in such cases, with a breakdown by nature of cases (set out in Table 2);
Table 2
Nature of cases(3) Regarding cases where problems arise during cross-boundary remittance process, whether the authorities will consider classifying the relevant remittance institutions (such as money changers) as failing to meet the “fit and proper person” criteria for a MSO licence, based on non-compliances confirmed by the government authorities of the remittance destination (e.g. using non-compliant third-party transfers during the remittance process, the remittance being classified as all or part of the funds for money laundering or terrorist financing, etc.); if not, of the reasons for that; and
(4) as it is learnt that some money changers require customers to sign “transaction notes” containing additional disclaimers and terms before providing cross-boundary remittance services, thereby exempting themselves from liability should problems arise from such remittances, whether the authorities will consider further regulating money changers holding an MSO licence to prevent them from evading the liability through certain exemption clauses; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Year (as at year-end) Regarding the regulation of cryptocurrency trading services, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) conducted a public consultation from June to August 2025 on the legislative proposals for regulating digital asset trading service providers. The FSTB and the SFC are formulating details of the licensing regimes based on the feedback received, with a target of submitting a bill to the Legislative Council in 2026.
(2) As regards the complaints and assistance requests received by the C&ED concerning remittances from Hong Kong to the Mainland, they mainly involve cases where funds remitted through money service operators to Mainland bank accounts were frozen. Between 2019 and 2022, the C&ED did not receive such reports or requests for assistance. From 2023 to the first two quarters of 2025, the C&ED received a total of 1 046 assistance requests involving frozen remittances to Mainland bank accounts through money service operators, involving 98 money service operators and an amount of approximately Renminbi (RMB) 63 million in total.
(as at end-June)(RMB million)Note: Some money service operators were involved in more than one assistance request.
The C&ED has contacted all affected individuals and has actively followed up with the relevant licensed money service operators to facilitate communication and negotiations between the parties involved. With the C&ED’s intervention, the situation of frozen remittances in 359 cases has been resolved so far, involving a total amount of approximately RMB 19 million. In addition, the C&ED will enhance collaboration with relevant Mainland authorities to assist the affected individuals.Issued at HKT 14:00
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Following is a question by the Hon Tang Ka-piu and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (September 25):
Question:
According to the Census and Statistics Department, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.7 per cent between June and August this year. The unemployment rates in the construction sector, food and beverage service activities sector and retail sector were recorded at 6.9 per cent, 6.8 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively, which is a cause of concern. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the monthly number of new job vacancies received by the Labour Department over the past 24 months, and the sectoral distribution and employment arrangements of such vacancies; whether it has studied the wage trends for these positions and whether it has identified any instances of mismatch between employers and jobs seekers;
(2) as the construction sector, food and beverage service activities sector and retail sector have become three of the sectors with the highest unemployment rates, what other specific measures apart from organising job fairs put in place by the Government to alleviate the unemployment in these sectors; and
(3) to further assist elderly and middle-aged unemployed persons in entering the workforce, whether the Government will expeditiously conduct an interim review of the Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme, increase resource allocation to the scheme and extend its implementation period, while simultaneously strengthening the role of trade unions in employment counselling and actively providing on-the-job and career transition training alongside start-up support measures, so as to enhance the effectiveness and coverage of the scheme?
Reply:
President,
The Government has been closely monitoring the situation and changes of Hong Kong’s employment market, and committed to promoting training and retraining to enhance the quality and productivity of our local labour force. In tandem, the Government provides employment services to encourage and assist people to join the labour market. The Government recognises that the business situations of certain sectors will continue to weigh on employment, nevertheless the steady growth of Hong Kong’s economy, and the Government’s various measures to boost economic growth, enhance economic momentum and bolster consumption sentiment will provide support to the overall labour demand.
In consultation with the Development Bureau, the reply to the Member’s question is provided as follows:
(1) The Labour Department (LD) provides diversified and free employment services to job seekers and actively liaises with employers to canvass job vacancies from different industries with a view to expediting the dissemination of employment information. Over the past 24 months, the job vacancies received from private sector by the LD each month, with breakdowns by industry, job nature and salary range are at Annex. By industry distribution, the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector recorded the largest number of job vacancies, followed by the restaurants and hotels industry, and the wholesale, retail and import/export trades. During the period, the proportion of job vacancies with a monthly salary of $15,000 or above, relative to the total number of vacancies, increased gradually from 61 per cent to 66 per cent.
Currently, the vast majority (99 per cent) of job vacancies advertised through the LD allow job seekers to apply directly to employers without the need to register with the LD for job matching services. To enhance job seekers’ opportunities to find suitable employment, the LD’s job centres provide personalised employment advisory and job matching services. Employment officers provide job seekers with the latest information on the employment market, assist them in enroling retraining courses to acquire relevant work skills and improve their employability.
(2) The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) provides training and retraining services for the local workforce. Of these, placement-tied courses assist people in seeking employment and the unemployed in acquiring industry-specific vocational skills to enhance their employability. The ERB also provides tailor-made retraining support to industries with higher unemployment rates to enhance competitiveness.
Apart from organising large-scale job fairs and district-based thematic job fairs, the LD has also established industry-based recruitment centres for the catering, retail, and construction industries. These centres specifically display job vacancies of the respective industries, and set up interview rooms so that employers and job seekers can conduct on-the-spot interviews, thereby shortening the time required for recruitment and job seeking. The LD has set up dedicated webpages for the catering, retail, and construction industries on its Interactive Employment Service (iES) website to facilitate job seekers in searching for relevant job vacancies, the latest details on job fairs and training information. Job seekers can also make use of the iES website or its mobile application to opt for receiving automatic updates on latest job vacancies matched automatically by the system with their pre-set criteria as well as information on job fairs.
As regards the construction industry, the annual average government capital works expenditure will rise from $90 billion to $120 billion over the next five years. As the economy recovers and private sector construction works rebound, the demand for manpower in the construction industry will remain strong in the coming years. With the support of the Development Bureau, the Construction Industry Council has been actively coordinating with the industry to strengthen training for construction workers, including the part-time “multi-skilled” short course launched last year, and provide subsidies to encourage construction workers enhancing trade skill to improve their employability. Besides, the Construction Industry Council will strengthen employment matching services, including physical job fairs as well as online platform for job and training course matching, so as to facilitate construction workers’ access to information on vacancies and training opportunities.
(3) The LD launched the Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme (REA Scheme) on July 15 last year to encourage persons aged 40 or above who have not been engaged in paid work for three consecutive months or more to re-join the employment market. The LD has commissioned service organisations to assist in the implementation of the scheme. Each eligible participant who has worked full-time for 12 months continuously may receive a maximum Re-employment Allowance of $20,000 during the implementation period of the REA Scheme. The REA Scheme has been well-received, with over 50 000 participants and over 27 000 placements recorded as at August this year. The LD welcomes employers who hired the participants of the REA Scheme to join the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged to uplift the work skills of older and middle-aged persons. Both schemes are complementary and achieve synergy in promoting the employment of older and middle-aged persons.
The LD is collecting and collating information and data on the participants and placements of the REA Scheme, and planning to conduct a mid-term review in the first quarter of 2026, along with the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged, to evaluate the effectiveness of the REA Scheme and map out the way forward, including exploring further measures to promote silver employment.
The Government will continue to closely monitor changes in the economy and employment market, and review and adjust various measures and employment services in a timely manner.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Following is a question by the Hon Benson Luk and a written reply by the Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, in the Legislative Council today (September 25):
Question:
Electrical products currently supplied in Hong Kong are primarily regulated by the Electrical Products (Safety) Regulation (Cap. 406G) and must be issued a certificate of safety compliance. However, it is learnt that non-compliant electrical products are still sold in the market from time to time, posing potential safety hazards such as fires and electrical leakage accidents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of reports of accidents involving electrical products (including but not limited to fires, electrical leakage and minor explosions) received by the Government in the past five years, as well as the number of casualties in such accidents;
(2) of the specific measures put in place to step up monitoring or inspection of non-compliant electrical products in the market;
(3) given that according to the web page of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), members of the public may report unsafe electrical products through channels such as 1823, fax and email, of the number of relevant reports or complaints received by the EMSD and other relevant organisations in the past five years; and
(4) whether the Government has specific plans to enhance public knowledge of electrical product safety to facilitate members of the public in choosing compliant electrical products; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) is responsible for the enforcement of the Electrical Products (Safety) Regulation (Cap. 406G) (the Regulation) of the Electricity Ordinance (Cap. 406), with a view to ensuring the safety of household electrical products. The reply to the question raised by the Hon Benson Luk is as follows:
(1) The number of incident cases involving household electrical products and the corresponding numbers of casualties as investigated by the EMSD in the past five years are tabulated as follows:
Year
Incident cases
No. of injuries
No. of deaths
2020
36
2
0
2021
46
8
1
2022
50
13
1
2023
51
13
0
2024
50
12
0
(2) The Regulation provides statutory control over all household electrical products supplied in Hong Kong to ensure public safety in terms of the use of these electrical products. According to the Regulation, suppliers of electrical products are required to ensure that household electrical products comply with the applicable safety requirements and have been issued with certificates of safety compliance before they are supplied.
The EMSD conducts annual sample checks on household electrical products supplied in Hong Kong. In the past five years, the EMSD conducted sample checks on 26 types for 300 household electrical products supplied in Hong Kong. It also engages third party testing laboratories to conduct testing based on the relevant safety standards. If relevant products are suspected to be in violation of the Regulation, the EMSD will conduct follow-up investigations.
Besides, the EMSD conducts inspections at retail stores supplying household electrical products, local e-commerce platforms, and their suppliers. Prosecutions will be carried out against non-compliant household electrical products identified during the inspections. The EMSD has conducted around 19 600 inspections in the past five years, and uncovered about 380 cases of violations of the Regulation with follow-up prosecutions.
(3) The numbers of reports on unsafe household electrical products received by the EMSD through various channels in the past five years are tabulated as follows:
Year
No. of reports
2020
60
2021
86
2022
65
2023
56
2024
54
(4) The EMSD has been enhancing public awareness of smart purchasing and safe use of household electrical products through various channels. Major measures include:
(a) publishing a new series of posters and leaflets in 2024, which introduce safety tips for commonly-used household electrical products such as air conditioners, electric fans, plugs, adaptors, and extension units;
(b) displaying posters and screening animated advertisements on billboards next to escalators in more than 35 MTR stations, featuring various topics including safety tips for dehumidifiers and reminders on the risk associated with cross-border e-purchasing of electrical products;
(c) conducting visits to around 280 schools and 40 elderly centres between 2022 and 2024 to promote the key points of electrical product safety;
(d) producing TV Announcements in the Public Interest and radio broadcasts, and carrying out advertising campaigns in various media platforms to enhance the promotion of electrical product safety, such as the promotion of smart purchasing of household electrical products and related safety information in online advertisement platforms and price comparison websites;
(e) producing promotional materials on electrical safety in eight languages (including Tagalog, Indonesian, Thai, Nepali, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Vietnamese) on the EMSD website as well as publishing leaflets, with a view to facilitating ethnic minorities to obtain important household safety information (www.emsd.gov.hk/en/electricity_safety/publications/general/index.html#hes);
(f) participating in the Hong Kong Book Fair 2025 and distributing tailor-made handbooks on the safe use of household electrical products to children and their parents visiting the booth; and
(g) continuously collaborating with various departments to promote electrical product safety through various channels including community and outreach activities, such as participating in various district carnivals organised by the Home Affairs Department, as well as the Hong Kong Island Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Day and Fire and Ambulance Services Academy Open Day organised by the Fire Services Department. Game booths were set up in these events to enhance public awareness of electrical product safety.
The EMSD will continue to step up its publicity and education efforts through various channels, with a view to enhancing the promotion of electrical product safety and assisting the public in choosing compliant electrical products.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ7: Regulation of the sale of fresh produce Question:
It has been reported that, in recent years, the Mainland has continuously improved its regulatory policies on the sale of fresh produce, such as vegetables, fruit, livestock and poultry meat, and aquatic products. For example, the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Quality and Safety in the Marketing of Edible Agricultural Products, effective from December 2023, comprehensively prohibit sellers from using lighting facilities that significantly change the true colour of live and fresh edible agricultural products (commonly known as “fresh food lighting”); and the national standard on Restricting Excessive Packaging Requirements of Fresh Edible Agricultural Products, effective from April last year, which imposes stringent regulations on the interspace ratio, number of layers and cost ratio of the packaging of such products. Regarding the regulation of the sale of fresh produce, will the Government inform this Council of the following:
(1) whether reference will be made to the above measures in the Mainland to prohibit the trade from using lighting facilities that affect the true colour of fresh produce;
(2) apart from formulating guidelines on product packaging reduction (for example, Practical Guides on Packaging Reduction And Management developed by the Environmental Protection Department for specific sectors), whether the Government will consider following the Mainland’s practice of restricting the excessive packaging of locally produced fresh produce;
(3) whether it will optimise its policy to enhance the transparency of the fresh produce retail market by making reference to the good regulatory experience of the Mainland or overseas countries, and maintain a level playing field in the business environment, thereby facilitating the healthy development of the industry and boosting consumers’ confidence; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(4) whether it has established a mechanism to regularly assess the effectiveness of the existing policy on regulating the sale of fresh produce; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(5) given the views that the supply chain of fresh produce is complex, whether the Government has plans to establish a comprehensive traceability system for fresh produce (including fresh produce not supplied locally), so as to enable consumers to clearly ascertain information such as the origin and farm names of such food products through reliable channels, preventing counterfeit and substandard products from entering the market, while at the same time enabling high-quality business operators to gain market recognition?
Reply:
President,
Having consulted the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, I provide the following reply to the questions on “fresh food lighting” and other related issues raised by Dr the Hon Hoey Simon Lee:
(1) and (3) Regarding the regulation of fresh provision shops selling fresh food, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has put in place a well-established regulatory regime for safeguarding food safety and public health. For details, please refer to parts (4) and (5) of the ensuing reply.
On protection of consumers’ rights and interests, there are currently various laws in Hong Kong for safeguarding the rights and interests of consumers. Among others, the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (Cap. 362) prohibits traders from subjecting consumers to unfair trade practices, with the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) as its principal enforcement agency. Meanwhile, the Consumer Council (the Council) endeavours to study and promote the protection of consumers’ rights and interests, including handling consumers’ complaints on goods and services. Consumers may report to the C&ED or file complaints with the Council against suspected unfair trade practices employed by traders in the provision of fresh food.
(2) Hong Kong’s supply of fresh food is primarily imported, with packaging largely conducted outside the city, making the regulation of packaging materials and methods for fresh food relatively complex. Relatively speaking, it is more pragmatic to encourage the trade to reduce food packaging or do it in a more environmentally-friendly way. To this end, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) launched the Packaging Reduction Charter on March 31 this year to encourage businesses to adopt sustainable packaging reduction practices. These include reviewing their packaging designs to minimise unnecessary material use, enhancing the recyclability and reusability of packaging, as well as exploring other innovative solutions. Hitherto, 128 businesses have signed the charter, with 20 of them related to the fresh food retailing and food manufacturing sectors, pledging reduction in packaging usage.
In addition, to assist the trades in enhancing packaging management, the EPD formulated the Practical Guides on Packaging Reduction and Management for their reference. The set of Guides covers sectors relevant to fresh food, such as “Supermarkets and Grocery Stores” and “Food Manufacturing”. In parallel, the EPD promotes simple packaging and waste reduction at source, and encourages green business and consumption through publicity and education (e.g. workshops, seminars and websites). The EPD will continue to closely monitor the effectiveness of packaging reduction measures across various sectors.
(4) and (5) The CFS has established an effective food safety regulatory mechanism covering stages of import, wholesale and retail to ensure that food (including fresh food) available for sale in Hong Kong are safe for consumption.
Certain high-risk food such as game, meat, poultry and eggs must come from sources recognised by the FEHD. Checking of import documents and surveillance at import control points are conducted by the CFS at the time of food import. In addition, the Food Safety Ordinance (Cap. 612) has established a food tracing mechanism, which provides that any person engaged in the food business shall maintain records of the movements of food, including the date the food was acquired, the name and contact details of the seller, the place from which the food was imported, and the total quantity and description of the food. The relevant provisions ensure that the Government can promptly and effectively trace the source of food and take corresponding follow-up actions in case of a food incident.
The CFS implements the Food Surveillance Programme to collect food samples (including those of fresh food) for testing at the import, wholesale and retail/catering levels under a risk-based principle on an ongoing basis, and takes corresponding enforcement actions against unsatisfactory surveillance results. In 2024, the CFS tested about 66 900 samples for regular surveillance and the overall satisfactory rate was 99.8 per cent.
The CFS has also been closely monitoring food incidents, both local and elsewhere. Based on factors such as risk level, legal requirements and whether the concerned food products are sold in Hong Kong, the CFS decides on the appropriate risk management actions. If necessary, the CFS will communicate with health authorities, importers, distributors and retailers of the region(s) concerned on the food incidents, and take corresponding actions such as requesting the trade to stop selling such products, conducting tests as and when appropriate, issuing directions to the trade and directing a food recall. The CFS will issue rapid alert to traders to inform them of the latest situation. It will also issue press releases to give advice to consumers if the food incidents are of public health concern to the local population.
Regarding the regulation of fresh provision shops selling fresh food, the Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X) stipulates that any person who intends to sell fresh, chilled or frozen beef, mutton, pork, reptiles (including live snake), fish (including live fish) and poultry at any premises in the territory must obtain a fresh provision shop licence issued by the FEHD before commencement of such business. Also, a trained and qualified full-time Hygiene Supervisor must be appointed to monitor food safety and hygiene at premises in accordance with licence conditions. The FEHD conducts regular risk-based inspections of licensed fresh provision shops to ensure that licensees comply with licensing requirements and conditions as well as hygiene standards prescribed under the law. Where breaches of licence conditions are identified, the FEHD will issue verbal or written warnings and consider revoking licences in serious cases. In addition to implementing regulatory measures, the FEHD provides ongoing health education to licensees, including the dissemination of food safety and health advice to licensees and their staff during regular inspections of premises, and the organisation of food hygiene talks, seminars and workshops to enhance the trade’s standards in food safety and hygiene. Issued at HKT 12:45