The Information Expo on Multiple Pathways 2025 (Info Expo), organised by the Education Bureau (EDB), will be held from 10am to 6pm on May 23 and 24 (Friday and Saturday) at Hall 1B of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. 
      
     A spokesman for the EDB said today (May 16), "The Info Expo aims to provide the latest information on multiple pathways for senior secondary school students, parents and teachers; and to help students make good preparations for different articulation and career plans. Around 30 post-secondary institutions and organisations will set up exhibition booths to provide information on locally accredited post-secondary programmes (including programmes eligible for various government subsidy schemes as well as vocational and professional education and training programmes and applied degree programmes), the Diploma of Applied Education programmes, as well as relevant online platforms such as the Information Portal for Accredited Post-secondary Programmes (iPASS), the Electronic Advance Application System for Post-secondary Programmes (E-APP), the Concourse for Self-financing Post-secondary Education (Concourse), and the Qualifications Framework."
      
     In addition, Hok Yau Club, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, and the Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association will offer studies and career guidance services to students.
      
     There will also be talks on multiple pathways, preparation and strategies for articulation to post-secondary education, and experience sharing by post-secondary students. Institution and industry representatives will also provide first-hand information about various programmes and career development. 

     Admission is free and prior registration is not required. There are interactive games at the EDB's booth. Participants who have completed designated tasks will receive a gift while stocks last.

     For details of the Info Expo (such as the schedule of activities and the list of exhibitors), please visit the event website at www.cspe.edu.hk/en/Resources-CareerGuidance-MultiplePathwaysExpo.html.

     The following list of general holidays for 2026 is gazetted today (May 16) for public information:
 

 
     A Government spokesman said, "As the Ching Ming Festival in 2026 falls on a Sunday, the following day will be designated as a general holiday in substitution. In this connection, as the day following the Ching Ming Festival falls on Easter Monday, the next day that is not itself a general holiday will be observed as an additional general holiday. Moreover, as the Birthday of the Buddha and the Chung Yeung Festival in 2026 both fall on a Sunday, the day following them will be designated as a general holiday in substitution."

     The Rating and Valuation Department (RVD) today (May 16) reminded members of the public that proposals objecting to the rateable values effective from April 1 this year must be lodged by May 31. The rateable values can be viewed on the RVD's Property Information Online website by May 31.

     Proposals can be lodged by submitting an electronic form (Form e-R20A) on the RVD's website or a completed Form R20A to the RVD in person or by post, without the need to engage an agent. Form R20A is available on the RVD's website, at the RVD's office or the Home Affairs Department's Home Affairs Enquiry Centres. Proposals received after May 31 or submitted by other means will not be accepted.

     Rates and Government rent must be paid by the last day for payment shown on the demands, whether or not a proposal has been lodged.

     The RVD will review all proposals carefully in accordance with the relevant ordinances. Whether or not a proposal is lodged through an agent has no bearing on the review. Proposers will be informed of the RVD's decisions before December 1. Any changes in rateable values resulting from such decisions will date back to April 1 this year, and adjustments will be made in subsequent demands.

     The Government published in the Gazette today (May 16) the Land Registration Fees (Amendment) Regulation 2025 (the Amendment Regulation) to revise the fees for registration services provided by the Land Registry Trading Fund.

     The types of fees to be revised include:
(i) registration of instruments including assignment and mortgage;
(ii) registration of agreement for sale and purchase;
(iii) registration of lease, agreement for a lease, or renewal or surrender of a lease;
(iv) registration of other instruments; and
(v) registration of instruments whereby any charge or mortgage on any share or interest in any property is assigned or transferred.

     A Government spokesman said, "The above-mentioned five types of fees have not been adjusted for almost 30 years and are significantly under-recovered. The Government has reviewed and adjusted the relevant fees in accordance with the established mechanism and 'user pays' principle. The revised fees are set at levels generally adequate for recovering the full costs of providing the services. In order for the affected parties to adapt to the fee revisions progressively, we propose to increase the above-mentioned fees in three phases in the financial years of 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28 respectively, with the increases ranging from around 15 per cent to around 35 per cent in each phase. Among them, registration fee types (i) and (ii) are related to conveyancing transactions. After the fee revisions, the increase in registration fees is still limited compared with the overall costs involved in a typical property conveyancing transaction including property price, stamp duty, and fees for conveyancing solicitors and estate agents. Regarding the other three types of non-conveyancing related registration fees, the payers are primarily corporate clients and financial institutions. It is anticipated that the impact of the fee revisions will be manageable to them." The revised fees can be viewed from the Land Registry's website (www.landreg.gov.hk/en/new/fee.htm).

     The Amendment Regulation was published in the Gazette today and will be tabled at the Legislative Council (LegCo) next Wednesday (May 21). Subject to approval of the Amendment Regulation by the LegCo by negative vetting, the revised fees will come into effect in three phases on July 16, 2025, July 1, 2026, and July 1, 2027, respectively.

     â€‹In response to media enquiries on reporting, photo and video-taking at prohibited places specified in the subsidiary legislation made under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, a spokesman for the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region today (May 16) said the following:

     The Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, at the meeting of the Legislative Council Subcommittee on Two Items of Subsidiary Legislation Made under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and the subsequent media session yesterday (May 15), clearly said that according to section 45 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, a "specified officer" (including a police officer or a guard of the prohibited place), who has reasonable grounds to believe that exercising such power is necessary for safeguarding national security, may order any person not to do or cease to do such acts as that of approaching or inspecting (including doing so by electronic or remote means) a prohibited place, and such officer may also order persons in the neighbourhood of a prohibited place to leave. Any person who contravenes an order commits an offence.

     There is no problem for members of the public to purely "check in" and take photos near a prohibited place while passing by, without any intention of endangering national security. However, if they deliberately take photos or videos of the entrances or the interior of a prohibited place so as to inspect such place, or engage in other conduct during photo or video-taking giving people reasonable grounds to believe that they may endanger national security, police officers or guards of the prohibited place have the power to ask the members of the public to leave in accordance with the above legal requirements and the judgment made at the scene at the time.