Tag Archives: China

     A total of 21 nomination forms for the 2021 Legislative Council General Election were received today (November 5) by the Returning Officers for the 10 geographical constituencies, the 28 functional constituencies and the Election Committee constituency.

     This brings to 81 the total number of nomination forms received since the start of the nomination period on October 30. The nomination period will continue until November 12.

     The number of nomination forms received for each geographical constituency is as follows:
 

Geographical constituency	No. of nomination forms received today	Cumulative total
Hong Kong Island East	1	2
Hong Kong Island West	1	3
Kowloon East	0	1
Kowloon West	0	1
Kowloon Central	1	3
New Territories South East	0	1
New Territories North	3	3
New Territories North West	0	0
New Territories South West	1	2
New Territories North East	1	1
Total	8	17

 
     The number of nomination forms received for each functional constituency is as follows:
 

Functional constituency	No. of nomination forms received today	Cumulative total
Heung Yee Kuk	0	1
Agriculture and fisheries	0	1
Insurance	1	2
Transport	1	2
Education	0	0
Legal	0	0
Accountancy	0	1
Medical and health services	1	1
Engineering	0	1
Architectural, surveying, planning and landscape	0	0
Labour	0	3
Social welfare	0	2
Real estate and construction	0	0
Tourism	1	2
Commercial (first)	0	1
Commercial (second)	0	0
Commercial (third)	0	1
Industrial (first)	0	0
Industrial (second)	1	2
Finance	0	1
Financial services	0	2
Sports, performing arts, culture and publication	0	2
Import and export	0	1
Textiles and garment	0	2
Wholesale and retail	0	2
Technology and innovation	2	2
Catering	0	2
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region deputies to the National People’s Congress, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and representatives of relevant national organisations	1	2
Total	8	36

 
     The number of nomination forms received today for the Election Committee constituency is five and the cumulative total number is 28.
 
     Particulars of the nominees received today will be uploaded to the election website (www.elections.gov.hk). read more

     â€‹Hong Kong Customs seized about 12 000 items of suspected counterfeit goods with an estimated market value of about $17 million at Shenzhen Bay Control Point and in Lai Chi Kok on October 30 and November 1 respectively. One person was arrested.

     Through risk assessment, Customs officers on October 30 intercepted an incoming truck at Shenzhen Bay Control Point and seized over 11 000 items of suspected counterfeit goods, including sports shoes, mobile phones and accessories, inside the truck. The 56-year-old male driver was arrested.

     After follow-up investigation, Customs officers took enforcement action on November 1 and raided a logistics company in Lai Chi Kok. About 500 items of suspected counterfeit goods, including mobile phones and accessories, were further seized.

     Initial investigation revealed that the batch of goods would have been re-exported to overseas countries including Middle East and South American countries.

     Investigation is ongoing and the arrested male driver has been released on bail pending further investigation.

     Customs will continue to strengthen co-operation with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies and take stringent enforcement action against cross-boundary counterfeit goods activities.

     Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who imports or exports any goods to which a forged trademark is applied commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.

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

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     Hong Kong Customs on October 19 seized about 260 kilograms of suspected cocaine with an estimated market value of about $300 million at the Tsing Yi Customs Cargo Examination Compound. Customs officers found that the case also involved money laundering activities, in which about $130 million of suspected crime proceeds had been laundered.

     A cocaine trafficking case making use of an aircraft engine was uncovered by Customs in May last year. After a series of in-depth investigations and data analysis, Customs officers selected for inspection a 40-foot refrigerated container, declared as carrying frozen chicken legs, arriving in Hong Kong from Brazil at the Tsing Yi Customs Cargo Examination Compound on October 19. Upon inspection, the officers found that the container’s bottom structure was suspicious and therefore used some tools to cut open the bottom structure. The batch of suspected cocaine was found concealed inside four false compartments of the bottom structure.

     After follow-up investigation, Customs officers conducted arrest operations at various districts from October 24 to yesterday (November 4). Seven premises were searched and a batch of shipping documents, bank statements, computers, mobile phones, banking security authentication tokens, signed cheques and cash were seized.

     During the operations, six persons comprising three men and three women, aged between 30 and 64, were arrested by Customs. A man is wanted in suspected connection with the case.

     Moreover, Customs officers conducted a financial investigation into the case at the same time. It has been initially revealed that one of the arrested persons has used multiple company bank accounts owned by her to launder about $130 million of suspected crime proceeds.

     Investigation is ongoing. One arrested woman has been charged with two counts of attempting to traffic in a dangerous drug. Customs will carry out in-depth investigation in the aspects of dealing with crime proceeds and money laundering. The likelihood of further arrests is not ruled out.

     Customs believes that the operation has smashed a transnational crime syndicate engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering. The multifarious modus operandi adopted by drug trafficking syndicates will not hinder Customs in detecting cases. The department will continue to maintain stringent law enforcement and close contact with relevant government departments and the logistics industry, and to make use of risk assessment, intelligence analysis and international co-operation, to vigorously combat drug trafficking and money laundering activities.

     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.

     Under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, a person commits an offence if he or she deals with any property knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that such property in whole or in part directly or indirectly represents any person’s proceeds of an indictable offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and imprisonment for 14 years while the crime proceeds are also subject to confiscation.

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

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     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr John Lee, chaired the 12th meeting of the Commission on Children today (November 5).

     Members were briefed on the progress of the five-year plan on transformation of some 170 public play spaces (PPS) under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, including some large-scale PPS in a number of old districts. Some projects will also be expedited so that children in the districts can enjoy play equipment with more fun sooner. Members welcomed the Government’s initiative in enhancing the PPS in Hong Kong, encouraging and promoting community participation during the process as well as providing venue support to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to enhance the play experience of children and strengthen parent education about quality play.

     In addition, members noted that the Education Bureau adopts a multi-pronged approach to prevent and handle school bullying. Measures include nurturing of students’ positive values and empathy through school curriculum, learning and teaching resources and diversified student learning activities as well as enhancement of the professional knowledge and capability of school personnel. The Government has implemented the policies of “two school social workers for each school” and “one school social worker for each school” in secondary and primary schools respectively in recent years to better cater for students’ needs. Moreover, the Police strengthen the communication with schools and parents with a view to promoting a violence-free campus. The Police also handle cyber bullying behaviour through prevention, promotion, education, intelligence collection and enforcement. The Police also rolled out a seven-week Child Protection Campaign in October to raise public awareness of the welfare of children through large-scale promotional activities.

     Members also noted the work progress of its four working groups. Among them, the Working Group on Children Protection held a stakeholder engagement session on October 22. More than 80 primary and secondary school students, parents, principals and professionals providing on-site services to schools, teachers and school social workers attended the session and shared views on promotion of children’s joyful learning and healthy development.

     At the meeting, the Commission also approved 29 applications for the Funding Scheme for Children’s Well-being and Development, with a total funding of about $9.3 million. The funded projects are implemented by NGOs, schools and child concern groups to undertake promotional and public educational projects on children-related issues with children’s participation in various aspects. Amid the COVID-19 epidemic, some projects target at encouraging children to do more physical exercises in many ways through specially designed sports board games, structured play, pastel nagomi art, etc, in order to maintain physical and mental health.

     Members welcomed the initiative announced in “The Chief Executive’s 2021 Policy Address” that the Government would take forward legislative work on a mandatory reporting mechanism for child abuse cases, with the target of introducing a Bill into the Legislative Council in the first half of 2023, and strengthen appropriate training for practitioners in the relevant professions to enhance their capacity for early identification and handling of child abuse cases. Members also expressed views on the proposal of creating a Commissioner for Children post mentioned in the Policy Address. Members noted that the Labour and Welfare Bureau was considering a suitably ranked official for taking up the post of Commissioner for Children with due consideration to the operation, manpower and resources management, with a view to advocating for the rights and well-being of children in a more effective manner. read more

     The inaugural Rule of Law Signature Engagement Event: “A Journey of Transformation for a Sustainable Future”, organised by the Department of Justice (DoJ) with the support of LAWASIA, was held today (November 5), marking the finale of Hong Kong Legal Week 2021.

     In delivering her welcome remarks, the Secretary for Justice, Ms Teresa Cheng, SC, stated that the event aimed to have a more in-depth discussion on selected topics involving specific stakeholders. She added that the event was complementary to the Rule of Law Congress and both of them would be held in alternating years during Hong Kong Legal Week each year.

     Ms Cheng further said that through today’s discussion, covering a number of crucial topics including the development of legal technology, advancing access to justice and the importance of objective data, and how cultural, legal traditions and socio-economic factors interplay for the development of the rule of law, it is expected that the message of building and maintaining more equal and inclusive societies for a sustainable future in the region and beyond could be widely spread.

     Addressing the opening session, the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, Mr Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, remarked that the successful maintenance of the rule of law is supported by multiple pillars, and one foundational pillar is judicial independence, which is specifically provided for in various Articles of the Basic Law. He pointed out that it is the courts’ role to administer the law and decide legal issues, and that it is never their function to resolve any underlying political or social controversies. He underlined that the continued success of Hong Kong is very much tied to the upholding of the rule of law.

     The Director General of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Professor Guo Huadong, in giving his keynote speech, announced that a sustainable development satellite was launched by the centre today to provide advanced, open and shared data resources for monitoring and evaluating the sustainable development index representing the interaction between humans and nature.

     Two roundtable dialogue sessions and a panel discussion with guest speakers, including young legal practitioners and students, discussing issues related to access to justice and its implications on sustainable development and legal technology were also conducted.

     The Rule of Law Database was officially launched during today’s event. Through collecting and collating relevant objective data and in-depth studies on the impact on the rule of law practice by the uniqueness of the jurisdictions, the Rule of Law Database aims to solidify the proper understanding of how the rule of law is practised and hence to improve on it as necessary.

     Before the event concluded, a ceremonial opening of the hot-desking of LAWASIA was held to celebrate the first organisation joining the DoJ’s hot-desking offices. The DoJ will provide administrative support to assist international legal professional and related organisations in organising training, conferences or other events of mutual interest in Hong Kong.

     The President-elect of LAWASIA, Ms Melissa Pang, remarked that the facility would be of great assistance to LAWASIA and its activities in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region. She also expressed her gratitude to the DoJ for the opportunity to enhance collaboration in areas of mutual interest.

     Meanwhile, with the Central People’s Government’s support, the DoJ has secured the hosting of the 59th Annual Session of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization in Hong Kong later this month, during which important international law topics will be discussed.

     The programmes of Hong Kong Legal Week 2021 have offered insightful and resourceful discussions to the participants who joined either in person or online. The full event will be available for review at the dedicated webpage.

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