Three charities have been issued Public Subscription Permits to hold flag sales from 7am to 12.30pm today (October 27). They are, on Hong Kong Island, Barnabas Charitable Service Association Limited; in Kowloon,
the Chinese Rhenish Church Hong Kong Synod; and in the New Territories, OIWA Limited, a spokesman for the Social Welfare Department (SWD) said.

     Arrangements have been made with the charities to help people distinguish between the three flag-selling activities.

     Information on the three flag-selling organisations on October 27 is as follows:
 

     For enquiries, please call the SWD's hotline at 2343 2255, or the Charitable Fund-raising Control Team at 2832 4311 during office hours. Information on the flag days of the month is available at the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_whatsnew). Permits for flag days containing contact information of the flag-selling organisations and information on the approved flag-selling activities have also been uploaded to the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_controlofc/sub_recentlyap). For enquiries about the detailed flag-selling arrangements, please contact the individual flag-selling organisations.

     Details of the charitable fund-raising activities covered by the Public Subscription Permit issued by the SWD have also been uploaded to the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/fundraising).
 
     In the case of suspected fraudulent flag day activities, people should not make any donation and should immediately report the matter to the Police, the spokesman added.

The following is issued on behalf of the Road Safety Council:

     The Road Safety Council (RSC), Traffic Hong Kong Island of the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Road Safety Patrol (Hong Kong Island and Islands) jointly held the Anti-Drink and Drug Halloween Road Safety 2018 event today (October 26) at Forbes Street Temporary Playground in Sai Wan.

     Anti-drink driving and anti-drug driving messages were successfully disseminated to the public. The event featured an artistic roller skating performance by the Kanata Roller Skating Association, a taekwondo performance by the Hong Kong Chido Taekwondo Association, a band performance by the Dawn Society and a performance by the Hong Kong Police Silver Band. After the launch ceremony, the guests walked through the bar areas of Forbes Street, Cadogan Street and Davis Street to distribute road safety leaflets in order to deliver the "No Drug and Drink Driving" message to road users.

     Today's ceremony was officiated by the Chairlady of the Road Safety Campaign Committee of the RSC, Ms Rebecca Ma; the Superintendent of Traffic Hong Kong Island (Investigation and Support Division) of the Hong Kong Police Force, Ms Petrina Lai; the Acting Chief Inspector of Police and Assistant Divisional Commander (Administration) of Western Division of the Hong Kong Police Force, Mr Yeung Kwun-chung; Senior Inspector of Police, Road Safety Unit, Traffic Branch Headquarters, Ms Susie Tsai; the Regional Commander of the Hong Kong Road Safety Patrol (Hong Kong Island and Islands), Dr Baldwin Cheng; and the Chairman of the Central and Western District Road Safety Campaign Committee, Mr Chow Chiu-sheung.

     In response to a media report yesterday (October 25) on the Technology Talent Admission Scheme (TechTAS), a spokesman for the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) gave the following reply today (October 26):
      
     Since the TechTAS came into operation in June this year, 142 quotas have been allotted under the scheme.
      
     With respect to the ITC, the processing of all these 142 quota applications was completed within the target of two weeks upon receipt of all the required information and documents. On average, the processing time was around three working days.  As for the Immigration Department, 12 applications for a visa / entry permit have been approved so far. The processing of all these cases was completed also within the target of two weeks’ time.
       
     The Harbin Institute of Technology, which is mentioned in the media report, is ranked ninth in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences in the latest (2016) Academic Ranking of World Universities (also known as the Shanghai Ranking). It is, therefore, a well-recognised university as required by the TechTAS.  It should not be required to submit lots of documentary proof.
      
     The ITC and the Immigration Department will keep processing applications within the target timeframe, so as to facilitate the admission of required talent for the technology sector.

     ​The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) said today (October 26) that it has terminated the tenancy agreement of a market stall in Sham Shui Po today as the tenant breached the tenancy agreement by subletting the market stall.

     The market stall was located on the first floor of Pei Ho Street Market in Sham Shui Po.

     An FEHD spokesman said, "The concerned tenancy agreement stipulates that public market stall tenants shall not assign, sublet, transfer mortgage, charge, demise, underlet or part with the possession or otherwise part with any of the benefits or obligations of the agreement dispose of the stall or any interest therein, or enter any agreement so to do. The FEHD may terminate the tenancy agreement for breach of this clause and enter into possession of the stall."

     Detailed investigations and evidence collected by the FEHD proved that the concerned tenant had sublet the stall. Hence, the FEHD terminated the tenancy agreement according to the abovementioned clause and the market stall concerned was resumed.

     The spokesman reminded FEHD market stall tenants to strictly observe clauses of the tenancy agreement, including refraining from subletting market stalls, or the tenancy agreement will be terminated.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Moneary Authority (HKMA) has completed its review on the process of electronic wallets users setting up direct debit authorisation (eDDA) through the Faster Payment System (FPS).  The HKMA has requested stored value facility operators and banks to adopt the following refined process to enhance user protection:
 

1. the user will receive an SMS notification from his bank to confirm the setting-up of eDDAï¼›or
2. he will need to make a one-time credit transfer from the relevant bank account to his electronic wallet, so as to confirm the wallet user is the same as the bank account owner; or
3. Bank's Two-factor Authentication.

 
     In order to provide more comprehensive protection to users, the above refined process will apply to direct debit services conducted through both FPS and non-FPS channels.  To implement the refined process, direct debit services through both channels have been temporarily suspended, but the resumption of services using the above refined process is expected to begin incrementally starting from next week.