The Transport Department (TD) today (September 20) reminded the public that the 126th and 127th auction of personalised vehicle registration marks (PVRMs) will be held this Saturday (September 22) and Sunday (September 23) at Meeting Room S421, L4, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai.
 
     Two lists of 228 and 241 approved PVRMs put up for auction can be downloaded from the department's website, www.td.gov.hk. The reserve price for all these marks is $5,000. Applicants who have paid a deposit of $5,000 are required to participate in the bidding (including the first bid at the reserve price). Otherwise, the PVRM concerned may be sold to another bidder at the reserve price.
 
     Bidders are also reminded to bring the following documents with them for completion of registration and payment procedures immediately after the successful bidding:
 
(i) The identity document of the successful bidder;
(ii) The identity document of the purchaser if it is different from the successful bidder;
(iii) A copy of the certificate of incorporation if the purchaser is a body corporate; and
(iv) A crossed cheque made payable to "The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" or "The Government of the HKSAR". (For an auctioned mark paid for by cheque, the first three working days after the date of auction will be required for cheque clearance confirmation before processing of the application for mark assignment can be completed.) Successful bidders can also pay through the Easy Pay System (EPS). Payment by post-dated cheques, cash or other methods will not be accepted.
 
     People who want to participate in the bidding at the auction should take note of the following important points:
 
(i) The display of a PVRM on a motor vehicle should be in compliance with the requirements stipulated in Schedule 4 to the Road Traffic (Registration and Licensing of Vehicles) Regulations;
(ii) Any change to the arrangement of letters, numerals and blank spaces of a PVRM, i.e. single and two rows as auctioned, will not be allowed;
(iii) Purchasers must make payment of the purchase price through EPS or by crossed cheque and complete the Memorandum of Sale of PVRM immediately after the bidding for the PVRM concerned. Subsequent alteration of the particulars in the memorandum will not be permitted; and
(iv) The purchaser shall, within 12 months after the date of auction, apply to the Commissioner for Transport for the PVRM to be assigned to a motor vehicle registered in the name of the purchaser. If the purchaser fails to assign the PVRM within 12 months, allocation of the PVRM will be cancelled and arranged for re-allocation in accordance with the statutory provision without prior notice to the purchaser.
 
     "Upon completion of the Memorandum of Sale of PVRM, the purchaser will be issued a receipt and a Certificate of Allocation of Personalised Registration Mark. The Certificate of Allocation will serve to prove the holdership of the PVRM. Potential buyers of vehicles bearing a PVRM should check the Certificate of Allocation with the sellers and pay attention to the details therein. For transfer of vehicle ownership, this certificate together with other required documents should be produced to the Transport Department for processing," a TD spokesman said.
 
     For other auction details, please refer to the Guidance Notes – Auction of PVRM, which is available at the department's licensing offices or can be downloaded from its website, www.td.gov.hk.

     The Department of Health (DH) today (September 20) is investigating an information security incident in which unauthorised promotional SMS messages were sent to patients of the DH's Dental Clinics.

     The DH, through its regular monitoring and review of transaction logs, observed abnormal SMS activities of sending unusual SMS messages to the patients of the DH's Dental Clinics through the SMS portal. Subsequent investigations with the service provider maintaining the SMS portal revealed that there had been an unauthorised login to one of the user accounts of the portal on September 14 and promotional SMS messages not related to DH services were sent to some 2 700 patients of the DH's Dental Clinics. According to the preliminary investigation, there was no downloading of personal data involved. The risk of leakage of personal information is likely to be minimal. The SMS account concerned and the DH's SMS services have been suspended until further notice.

     The DH has reported the incident to the Police and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. A report will also be made to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data later today.

     Patients of the DH's Dental Clinics are urged not to respond to any suspicious SMS messages or click on any dubious links received via SMS. Also, if members of the public received an SMS reminder from the Dental Service in the past two weeks and wish to enquire about further details of the incident, they may contact the DH at 2970 5955 during office hours.

     The DH attaches great concern to this incident and will step up information security for the portal, with additional security measures to be implemented by the service provider before resumption of the SMS service. The DH has also asked the service provider to submit an investigation report on the incident and will review existing information security measures to avoid the recurrence of similar incidents in future.

     The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department today (September 20) announced an adjustment to the auto-LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) ceiling prices for dedicated LPG filling stations from October 1 to October 31, 2018, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contracts of the dedicated LPG filling stations.
 
     A department spokesman said that the adjustment on October 1, 2018, reflects the movement of the LPG international price in September 2018. The adjusted auto-LPG ceiling prices for dedicated LPG filling stations will range from $3.76 to $4.29 per litre, representing an increase of $0.14 to $0.15 per litre.
 
     The spokesman said that the auto-LPG ceiling prices were adjusted according to a specified pricing formula. The formula comprises two elements – the LPG international price and the LPG operating price. The LPG international price is the LPG international price of the preceding month. The LPG operating price is adjusted on the first day of February every year according to the movement in the Composite Consumer Price Index in the previous year.
 
     The auto-LPG ceiling prices for respective dedicated LPG filling stations in October 2018 are as follows:
 

     The spokesman said that the details of the LPG international price and the auto-LPG ceiling price of each dedicated LPG filling station have been uploaded to the department website www.emsd.gov.hk. They are also posted at dedicated LPG filling stations to enable the trades to monitor the price adjustment.
 
     Details of the pricing adjustment mechanism for dedicated LPG filling stations can also be viewed under the "What’s New" section of the department website at www.emsd.gov.hk/en/what_s_new/current/index.html.

     Hong Kong Customs yesterday (September 19) seized about 500 grams of suspected cocaine and about 650g of suspected crack cocaine in Kwun Tong and Hung Hom respectively with a total estimated market value of about $1.3 million.

     During an anti-narcotics operation in Kwun Tong yesterday evening, Customs officers intercepted a man and found about 500g of suspected cocaine as well as a batch of drug packaging paraphernalia inside luggage carried by him. The 23-year-old man was then arrested.

     After follow-up investigation, Customs officers intercepted a man at the lobby of a residential building in Hung Hom and found about 650g of suspected crack cocaine inside a plastic bag carried by him. Customs officers then arrested the 27-year-old man. A 21-year-old man suspected to be involved in the case was further arrested in a residential unit in the same building.

     Investigation is ongoing.

     Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.

     Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

  

     Owing to the improvement works on the flag poles and the podium at the Golden Bauhinia Square, Wan Chai, the flag lowering parade scheduled at 6pm tomorrow (September 21) will be suspended.

     The flag raising parade will resume at 8am on September 22.