Police today (April 26) appealed to the public for information on a non-ethnic Chinese man who went missing in Tsim Sha Tsui.

     Ali Abdul Kader, aged 43, went missing after he was last seen on Nathan Road on April 24 morning. His hostel staff made a report to Police yesterday (April 25).

     He is about 1.74 metres tall, 100 kilograms in weight and of fat build. He has a round face with dark complexion and short brown hair. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, a polo shirt with pink, blue and grey stripes, blue jeans, white sports shoes and a yellow cap.

     Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Person Unit of Kowloon West on 3661 8038 or 9020 6542 or email to rmpu-kw@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.

  

     A woman who went missing in Mong Kok has been located.

     Huang Wanxiang, aged 63, went missing after she was last seen at MTR Mong Kok Station on April 24 morning. Her family made a report to Police yesterday (April 25).

     The woman was located on Cheung Sha Wan Road, Sham Shui Po in the small hours of today (April 26). She sustained no injuries and no suspicious circumstances were detected.

     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has been working in close collaboration with international law enforcement agencies to combat illegal hazardous waste import and export activities and to jointly carry out monitoring and law enforcement work, a spokesman for the EPD said today (April 26). The spokesman cited a recent case in which the EPD's provision of evidence through collaboration with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Justice resulted in the successful prosecution of the illegal export of hazardous electronic waste (e-waste) to Hong Kong from the United States. On April 11, a federal court in Chicago sentenced the concerned recycling operator in the United States to three years' imprisonment and a fine of over US$1,200,000 for illegally exporting hazardous e-waste, together with other charges including fraud and tax evasion.

     The spokesman said that in April 2011, the EPD, with the assistance of the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, intercepted a container, which was claimed to contain scrap metal, from the United States at the Kwai Chung Container Terminals. After inspection, it was found to be loaded with hazardous e-waste comprising around 200 waste cathode ray tube monitors and television sets as well as around one tonne of waste batteries. The EPD immediately returned the intercepted hazardous e-waste to the United States and notified the United States Environmental Protection Agency about the return shipment for their follow-up investigation.

     The relevant enforcement agencies in the United States later contacted the EPD for assistance, and with the EPD's provision of relevant evidence through the Hong Kong Department of Justice, they were able to bring the recycler concerned to justice. The spokesman stressed that the EPD would continue to work in collaboration with international law enforcement agencies to jointly combat illegal hazardous waste import and export activities.

     The EPD has intercepted a total of 30 cases of illegally imported hazardous waste from the United States since 2016. In addition to notifying the relevant overseas law enforcement agencies about each case for their follow-up action at source, the EPD has also successfully prosecuted 12 importers after collecting sufficient evidence. Other cases are either under investigation or scheduled for trial.

      

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today (April 26) issued a joint consultation on further enhancements to the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives regulatory regime in Hong Kong.
 
     To align with global standards, the regulators propose that transactions to be submitted to the Hong Kong Trade Repository for the reporting obligation (Note 1) would be required to be identified by unique transaction identifiers with the structure and format as set out in the Technical Guidance issued by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (Note 2).
 
     The regulators also propose to remove 17 jurisdictions from the list of designated jurisdictions for the masking relief of the reporting obligation (Note 3) in view of the recent clarification by the Financial Stability Board (Note 4), and to update the list of Financial Services Providers under the OTC derivatives clearing regime (Note 5). These proposals ensure that the Hong Kong reporting and clearing regimes keep up with international developments and remain relevant and appropriate.  
 
     Interested parties are invited to submit comments to the HKMA or the SFC on the updated list of Financial Services Providers by May 25 and on the other proposals by June 25.
 
     The joint consultation paper can be downloaded from the websites of the HKMA or the SFC.

Note 1: Phase 2 reporting of OTC derivatives transactions came into effect on July 1, 2017, and covers all five major asset classes (interest rates, foreign exchange, credit, commodities and equities) of OTC derivatives.
Note 2: Technical Guidance on the Harmonisation of the Unique Transaction Identifier issued by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and the International Organization of Securities Commissions in February 2017.
Note 3: Masking relief was introduced when phase 1 reporting took effect in July 2015 to deal with situations where a reporting entity is prevented from submitting certain information identifying the counterparty to the Hong Kong Trade Repository due to legal or regulatory barriers to full trade reporting in certain jurisdictions. The masking relief enables reporting entities to mask counterparty information when they encounter reporting barriers in a jurisdiction that is on the designated list.
Note 4: Follow-up Report on Trade Reporting Legal Barriers issued by the Financial Stability Board in November 2018.
Note 5: Phase 1 clearing, covering specified standardised interest rate swaps between major dealers, came into effect on September 1, 2016.

     â€‹The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) today (April 26) reminded the public that there is a potential risk of electric shock from Apple three-prong AC plug adaptors. Apple has advised that the affected plug adaptors are susceptible to breakage with repeated impact, which exposes internal metal components, causing a potential risk of electric shock. EMSD urged the public to replace the affected plug adaptors as soon as possible for safety reasons.
 
　　The affected plug adaptors came with Mac and certain iOS devices from 2003 to 2010, and were also included in the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit.
 
　　The public can visit the Apple's website (www.apple.com/hk/en/support/three-prong-ac-wall-plug-adapter/) to check whether their plug adaptors are affected and arrange for product replacement.