Author Archives: hksar gov

     To align with the Government’s announcement that public services will resume under a phased approach, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) announced today (April 30) that its public services will resume as normal starting from May 4 (Monday). Some EPD facilities will continue to be temporarily closed, and visitor and education programmes will remain suspended.
 
     All public counters of the EPD will resume normal services starting from May 4, including counter services in regional offices and other counter services for licences and other applications. The instant call answering service of the EPD’s general customer hotline (2838 3111) will resume and the telephone enquiry services of other registration schemes will also revert to normal operating hours.
 
     Details of the latest arrangements of the above services are available at the EPD website (www.epd.gov.hk).
 
     Regarding facilities, Shuen Wan Restored Landfill – Golf Driving Range will reopen on May 4, while other facilities including visitor centres of EcoPark, T•PARK and WEEE•PARK, Environmental Resource Centres (namely Wan Chai Environmental Resource Centre, Fanling Environmental Resource Centre, Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre and Mobile Environmental Resource Centre), Tseung Kwan O Restored Landfill – Football Training Centre, Gin Drinkers Bay Restored Landfill – BMX Park and Cricket Hong Kong Centre will remain temporarily closed until further notice.
 
     All Community Green Stations remain open to collect recyclables and the counters will resume normal services, while visitor and education programmes will continue to be temporarily suspended until further notice. read more

     A spokesperson for the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) said today (April 30) that the $150 million Arts and Culture Sector Subsidy Scheme, which was established under the Anti-epidemic Fund (AEF) to assist the arts and culture s… read more

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations: Yellow fire danger warning      The fire danger situation today (April 30) is yellow and the risk of fire is high. People are urged to prevent fires breaking out and hiker… read more

     â€‹Hong Kong Customs and the Department of Health (DH) yesterday (April 28) conducted a joint operation codenamed “Whirlwind” in Wan Chai, Kwun Tong, Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long to combat illegal sale of nicotine-containing oil for electronic cigarettes and seized about 50 000 pieces of suspected nicotine-containing oil for electronic cigarettes with an estimated market value of about 2.38 million.  

     Customs earlier received information alleging that some retail shops of alternative smoking products are suspected to be engaged in illegal activities.  Investigation revealed that some retail shops using the sale of uncontrolled products such as heating devices and accessories of electronic cigarettes as a camouflage, so they could sell nicotine-containing oil for electronic cigarettes surreptitiously.  

     Customs and the DH then conducted a joint operation yesterday and raided various retail shops of alternative smoking products in Wan Chai, Kwun Tong, Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long. As a result, the batch of suspected nicotine-containing oil for electronic cigarettes was seized from 15 shops.

     During the operation, Customs officers arrested ten men and ten women, aged between 20 and 41, including shop proprietors and salespersons.

     Investigations by Customs and the DH are ongoing. The suspected nicotine-containing oil for electronic cigarettes seized will be sent to the Government Laboratory for examination.

     According to the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, nicotine-containing electronic cigarette products are classified as pharmaceutical products requiring registration with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong before they can be sold in Hong Kong. In addition, nicotine is a Part 1 poison which can only be sold at pharmacies under the supervision of a registered pharmacist. Illegal sale and possession of Part 1 poisons and unregistered pharmaceutical products are criminal offences. The maximum penalty for each offence is a fine of $100,000 and two years’ imprisonment.

     Members of the public may report any suspected illegal sale of alternative smoking products to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

     Members of the public may also call the DH at 2572 2068 for further enquiries relating to pharmaceutical products and medicines.

  

     The Fitness Centre Subsidy Scheme (the Scheme), which is launched by the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) under the second phase of the Anti-epidemic Fund, will be open for applications from May 4 to June 3.    &n… read more