Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the GreenTech Hub Opening Ceremony today (March 11): Albert (Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), Mr Alb… read more
Hong Kong Customs conducted a joint anti-illicit cigarette publicity campaign today (March 11) with members of the Yuen Long District Council, the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office (TACO) of the Department of Health, the Police, the Housing Department (HD) and the Community Care Teams in Tin Tsz Estate and Tin Yiu Estate in Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long.
During the event, in addition to patrolling housing estates, Customs officers also set up a promotional booth to distribute leaflets, explain anti-illicit cigarette messages to residents, and encourage them to report suspected illicit cigarette trading activities to Customs.
Customs reminds young people, especially students, not to buy or sell illicit cigarettes or distribute illicit cigarette leaflets, to avoid creating a criminal record that could affect their future.
Customs will continue to step up enforcement to vigorously combat illicit cigarette activities through risk assessment, intelligence analysis and interception at source. If public rental housing units are found to be involved in illicit cigarette crimes, Customs will notify the HD for follow-up action after the conclusion of court proceedings.
Customs stresses that it is an offence to buy or sell illicit cigarettes. Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, anyone involved in dealing with, possession of, selling or buying illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for two years. Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette 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/).
In accordance with the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371), no person shall distribute any smoking product advertisement (including any promotion leaflets). Any person who contravenes the regulation is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000. Members of the public may report any suspected activities of illicit cigarette leaflets distribution to TACO’s hotline 2961 8823.
The Sales of First-hand Residential Properties Authority (SRPA) today (March 11) successfully prosecuted a first-hand residential development vendor for contraventions of the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance (the Ordinance). The vendor was charged with three counts of offences for (i) failure to contain in the agreement of sale and purchase the provisions as set out in Schedule 7 of the Ordinance; (ii) failure to provide an electronic copy of the Register of Transactions available for inspection on the designated website for the development, and (iii) failure to provide an electronic copy of the Register of Transactions to the SRPA as soon as practicable after an entry had been made into the Register of Transactions, contravening Section 55(2), Section 60(2) and Section 60(4) of the Ordinance respectively. The vendor pleaded guilty to the above offences and was convicted and fined $26,000 at Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts today. The development concerned is located at Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong.
“The SRPA has long been taking a three-pronged approach to enforce the Ordinance, i.e. to step up compliance checks, inspections, as well as collection of required evidence for prosecutions; to continuously improve the trade’s compliance with the Ordinance; and to foster public awareness of the Ordinance. The SRPA will take action seriously and carry out investigations on any suspected cases of contravention of the Ordinance to further enhance the transparency and fairness of the sales of first-hand residential properties, protect the interests of purchasers, as well as provide a level playing field for vendors,” a spokesman for the SRPA said.
Details of the case have been uploaded onto the SRPA’s website at www.srpa.gov.hk/en/prosecution-cases.html for public inspection. read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority: Exchange Fund Bills tender results: Tender date : March 11, 2025 Paper on offer : EF Bills … read more
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (March 11) the results of the Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) for February 2025.
The current diffusion index (DI) on business receipts amongst SMEs decreased from 43.1 in January 2025 in the contractionary zone to 42.1 in February 2025, whereas the one-month’s ahead (i.e. March 2025) outlook DI on business receipts was 45.8. Analysed by sector, the current DIs on business receipts for many surveyed sectors dropped in February 2025 as compared with previous month, particularly for the logistics (from 38.5 to 36.3) and retail trade (from 41.9 to 39.9).
The current DI on new orders for the import and export trades decreased from 46.1 in January 2025 to 45.9 in February 2025, whereas the outlook DI on new orders in one month’s time (i.e. March 2025) was 47.3.
Commentary
A Government spokesman said that overall business sentiment and employment situation among SMEs eased in February. Yet, their overall expectations on the business situation in one month’s time turned better.
The spokesman added that uncertainties in the external environment would continue to pose negative impacts to the business environment, while the expected loosening of global financial conditions, the Central Government’s roll-out of various measures to boost the Mainland economy, together with the Special Administrative Region Government’s proactive efforts to promote economic development should provide support. The Government will monitor the situation closely.
Further information
The Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises aims to provide a quick reference, with minimum time lag, for assessing the short-term business situation faced by SMEs. SMEs covered in this survey refer to establishments with fewer than 50 persons engaged. Respondents were asked to exclude seasonal fluctuations in reporting their views. Based on the views collected from the survey, a set of diffusion indices (including current and outlook diffusion indices) is compiled. A reading above 50 indicates that the business condition is generally favourable, whereas that below 50 indicates otherwise. As for statistics on the business prospects of prominent establishments in Hong Kong, users may refer to the publication entitled “Report on Quarterly Business Tendency Survey” released by the C&SD.
The results of the survey should be interpreted with care. The survey solicits feedback from a panel sample of about 600 SMEs each month and the survey findings are thus subject to sample size constraint. Views collected from the survey refer only to those of respondents on their own establishments rather than those on the respective sectors they are engaged in. Besides, in this type of opinion survey on expected business situation, the views collected in the survey are affected by the events in the community occurring around the time of enumeration, and it is difficult to establish precisely the extent to which respondents’ perception of the business situation accords with the underlying trends. For this survey, main bulk of the data were collected around the last week of the reference month.
More detailed statistics are given in the “Report on Monthly Survey on the Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”. Users can browse and download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1080015&scode=300).
Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact Industrial Production Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7246; email: sme-survey@censtatd.gov.hk). read more