Hong Kong – EPD clarifies on matters relating to sales of designated bags for municipal solid waste charging circulated on Internet
EPD clarifies on matters relating to sales of designated bags for municipal solid waste charging circulated on Internet
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In response to the allegation circulated on the Internet regarding the sales of products claiming to be pre-paid designated bags (DBs) for municipal solid waste (MSW) charging, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) made the following clarification yesterday (January 5):
The EPD noticed that several pictures of a green garbage bag, titled “Designated Bag for Hong Kong Municipal Solid Waste Charging Next Year”, have recently been forwarded to an online discussion forum, and that same type of garbage bag is available for sale online. The garbage bag concerned is imprinted with characters including “Designated Bag” and “For Trial Only”. The department suspected that garbage bag is a dummy DB which was provided by the EPD to residents for trial use under its trial projects, which had commenced since 2018, for cultivating their new waste disposal practices, and the associated trial projects were completed at the end of 2023. The EPD emphasises that people are not allowed to use dummy DBs for depositing waste after the commencement of MSW charging, otherwise they may contravene legislations relating to MSW charging. The EPD has also notified the Hong Kong Customs of the the findings for their follow-up investigations.
As provided in the Waste Disposal Ordinance (Cap. 354), DBs and designated labels (DLs) shall only be sold by persons authorised by the Director of Environmental Protection (DEP) on prescribed terms to prevent counterfeit DBs and DLs from being supplied in the market. Any unauthorised person who sells DBs and DLs is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $200,000. Over 3 000 sales points and online platforms authorised by the DEP will start selling DBs and DLs from next month onwards, with details to be announced later this month.
The EPD has completed registering trade marks for the designs of DBs of different capacities and DLs to guard against possible counterfeit products and eradicate copyright infringement activities. Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who sells or possesses, for the purpose of selling, counterfeit goods commits an offence, and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $500,000 and to imprisonment for five years. Members of the public may report such activities to the Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
DH clarifies scope of Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme
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A spokesman for the DH stresses that, elderly persons shall receive the healthcare services in person by the enrolled health care providers (EHCPs) in Hong Kong, or attend the outpatient services provided by designated Outpatient Medical Centers, Medical Service Departments of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital and its Huawei Li Zhi Yuan Community Health Center in order to use EHCV. All medical services with fees paid by using the EHCV shall not be conducted by telemedicine.
To ensure the proper use of public money, the DH will conduct regular or sampling checks in accordance with the monitoring mechanism. All suspected cases of violating the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme (EHVS) rules or making false declarations will be strictly dealt with. Appropriate action or measures will be taken, including referring relevant cases to law enforcement agencies for investigation. Making a false declaration is a criminal offence and offenders are liable to a fine or imprisonment upon conviction.
“The Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address” announced an initiative of rolling out the “Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme” (Pilot Scheme) to extend the coverage of the EHCV initially to about five suitable medical institutions in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) as trial service points for provision of primary healthcare services, as well as to include individual designated medical institutions providing dental services at places near Hong Kong, such as Shenzhen. The Health Bureau and the DH have already been taking forward the Pilot Scheme, including inviting relevant Mainland authorities to recommend medical institutions suitable for inclusion in the Pilot Scheme and conducting a market research by inviting medical organisations with EHCPs participating in the EHVS to provide, for the Government’s reference, information and operational details of medical institutions which are set up, being operated or supervised by them in the GBA. The Government will announce further details under the Pilot Scheme at appropriate times.
FEHD clarifies issue of construction waste at Devil’s Peak
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The spokesman said that the FEHD had contacted the DC member concerned to understand the matter and launched an investigation. According to the department’s work records, no staff had been deployed to remove illegal structures or to clear relevant construction waste at the said location, and in fact those tasks fall outside the FEHD’s area of responsibility. Therefore, the department reckons that the incident is merely a misunderstanding.
The FEHD has referred the abovementioned report from the public to the Lands Department (LandsD) for follow-up investigation, and understands that the LandsD will arrange contractors to remove relevant construction waste as early as practicable. The FEHD will continue to monitor the location concerned to see if there are any other environmental hygiene problems that need to be addressed.
Government clarifies recruitment of personnel for Fang Cang under closed-loop arrangement circulated on Internet
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CSD clarifies unfounded remarks made by individual member of public
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Hong Kong – DH clarifies scope of Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme
In response to media enquiries, the Department of Health (DH) today (January 3) clarifies that Elderly Health Care Voucher (EHCV) does not cover online/telemedicine services.Hong Kong – FEHD clarifies issue of construction waste at Devil’s Peak
At the Kwun Tong District Council (DC) meeting yesterday (July 4), a DC member said that a report from the public was received claiming that staff of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) had dumped construction waste at the slope after demolition of some illegal structures at Devil’s Peak. A spokesman for the FEHD clarifies today (July 5) that there had been no such incident as claimed.Hong Kong – Government clarifies recruitment of personnel for Fang Cang under closed-loop arrangement circulated on Internet
In response to media enquiries about recruitment of personnel for Fang Cang under closed-loop arrangement circulated on the Internet, a Government spokesman today (November 9) reiterated that the governments of Hong Kong and Shenzhen are working on the detailed requirements for the proposal of “pre-departure quarantine” to ensure the comprehensive formulation of the plan. The relevant discussion is still in progress. The Government has not launched any recruitment of personnel for the work mentioned above at this stage.
The Government appeals to members of the public to be cautious in job seeking and not to disclose personal information to a third party if the recruitment advertisements are suspicious to avoid relevant information from being used improperly.
Hong Kong – CSD clarifies unfounded remarks made by individual member of public
In response to unfounded remarks made by a member of the public through the media today (July 27) on the treatment of persons in custody, the Correctional Services Department (CSD) made the following clarifications to set the record straight:
The CSD is committed to ensuring a secure, safe, humane, decent and healthy custodial environment and has been continuously taking various measures to improve the custodial environment, including air ventilation in the institutions. Apart from the regular replacement of fans, the CSD has additionally installed different types of fans, including high power industrial fans and anti-suicide cell safety fans at different institutions according to the genuine needs. New-style gates and windows are also installed progressively to improve air ventilation.
Moreover, the CSD also allows persons in custody to purchase ice cooling towels and hand fans. For security reasons, the CSD will not allow persons in custody to purchase antipyretic paste.
The CSD arranges daily exercise for persons in custody in accordance with the law, except for those exempted by the Medical Officer for health reason. Besides, the CSD also arranges persons in custody to take daily shower at different time slots with regard to the operations of the institutions. There is no restriction that a shower should be completed within 10 minutes.
Generally speaking, the CSD switches off lighting devices in cells during the bedtime of persons in custody. Nevertheless, having regard to the actual operational needs of the institution, appropriate illumination will be maintained in individual cells at night to ensure that the health conditions of person in custody can be effectively monitored by correctional officers.
The CSD condemns the individual member of the public for making unfounded remarks to smear the department.
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