Tag Archives: China

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, today (February 18) officiated at the launch ceremony of the Scheme on Corporate Summer Internship on the Mainland and Overseas 2019. He presented certificates to interns who participated in the Pilot Scheme on Corporate Summer Internship on the Mainland and Overseas last summer and announced a new round of the Scheme. The Scheme will accept applications from today until March 22.
      
     Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Cheung said that one of the priorities of youth development work of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is to provide more opportunities for young people to experience the work culture of different places, thereby broadening their horizons. In view of the success of the Pilot Scheme, the Government is expanding the scheme in 2019 with a view to nurturing outstanding talents with an affection for Hong Kong, a sense of national identity and an international perspective.
      
     The number of major companies participating in the Scheme has increased to 18 this year. They are all well-established enterprises based in Hong Kong and have undertaken to provide more than 280 internship places on the Mainland including cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and Xiamen, as well as overseas countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Japan. The internship placements cover various industries such as financial services, the energy sector, property development and management, and public utilities services (please refer to Annex for details of the internship placements). Apart from offering these young people quality internship placements outside Hong Kong, participating companies will also shoulder key expenditure items including airfare and accommodation. The companies will also assign dedicated personnel to provide training and support to the interns.
      
     Interns should be undergraduate or postgraduate students holding a valid Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card. The internship placements will take place from May to September this year and last for no less than six weeks.
      
     The Government will continue to organise large-scale promotion for the Scheme and arrange for the interns a series of activities to enrich their learning experience and broaden their horizons.
      
     Details of the Scheme have been uploaded onto a dedicated webpage of the Youth Development Commission (www.ydc.gov.hk/scsi/en). Interested students should submit applications through the Government’s centralised application system, and each student can apply to up to three companies in a single application. Upon receipt of applications, participating companies will be responsible for the assessment and selection of applicants, as well as the implementation of the internship arrangements.

      

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:        The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited on fraudule… read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:         The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by China CITIC Bank International Limited … read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Communications Authority:

     The Communications Authority (CA) today (February 18) provided its views to the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) in response to the Consultation Paper entitled “Review of Telecommunications Regulatory Framework” issued by the CEDB.

     “The advent of the fifth generation mobile (5G) service and Internet of Things (IoT) era provides new opportunities. Ensuring that the regulatory regime for the telecommunications sector remains up to date and in line with international best practice will underpin the continual competitiveness of the telecommunications sector, promote further business development of the telecommunications sector, and ultimately facilitate society to benefit from the new generation of communications technologies. The CA therefore considers the current review by the CEDB to be timely, and concurs that the proposals in the Consultation Paper will be conducive to promoting the further development of the telecommunications industry,” a spokesman for the CA said.
      
     A gist of CA’s views on the major proposals in the Consultation Paper is set out below.

Regulation of telecommunications functions of devices in the 5G and IoT era
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     With the advent of 5G technology and services, it is expected that an expanded set of smart devices, in a much wider range beyond that originally conceived under the existing provisions of the Telecommunications Ordinance (TO), would be connected to the public telecommunications networks under innovative services and applications to be unveiled in the short-term future. These smart devices may include any products with digital functionality such as vehicles, medical equipment, or even home electrical appliances, but they may not be primarily designed or used for provision of telecommunications services by licensees under the TO. 

     The CA welcomes the CEDB’s proposal to state clearly that the CA’s regulatory powers and duties will be on the telecommunications functions of telecommunications equipment and 5G/IoT devices, while the non-telecommunications functions and other aspects (e.g. electrical functions and general safety aspects) of such equipment and devices will be regulated by other competent authorities under other dedicated legislation as appropriate. This can provide a clearer legal basis to enable the CA to focus its efforts and resources on its core duty.

Protection of underground telecommunications infrastructure
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     The integrity of underground telecommunications infrastructure is important for the general public. The CA supports the proposal of introducing new criminal liabilities against any person who, without taking reasonable care in carrying out road works, causes damage to underground telecommunications facilities to enhance the existing safeguards and protection provided under the TO. The CA believes this would provide the much-needed deterrence and accord better protection for both the telecommunications operators and the public from network outage in the future. 

Simplifying the issue of non-carrier licences
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     The imminent arrival of the 5G and IoT era is set to kick off the development of various new and innovative facilities-based services providing advanced and dedicated functionality to niche applications. Unlike conventional public mobile services, these new services would likely be operating with a more limited scope and at a much smaller scale, such as those supporting smart city applications on a localised basis like at campuses and technology parks.

     The CA therefore welcomes the CEDB’s proposal to streamline the existing mechanism for issuing non-carrier licences for certain facilities-based telecommunications services. The proposed streamlined mechanism would enable the CA to shorten the lead time for authorising innovative telecommunications services and facilitate telecommunications operators to bring in new and innovative services to the market in a more timely manner for the benefit of both the business sector and the general public.

Improving the appeal mechanism under the TO
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     The CEDB proposes to further enhance the current appeal mechanism by establishing an independent appeal board to handle grievances involving non-competition related regulatory decisions of the CA. The CA notes that the categories of decisions proposed to be put under the purview of the intended appeal board are essentially those which would have a bearing on licensees’ businesses and operation. The CA therefore considers the proposal reasonable. read more

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Monday, February 18, 2019 is 103.7 (down 0.1 against last Saturday’s index).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Saturday, February 16, 2019 is 103.8 (down 0.1 against last Friday’s index). read more