Tag Archives: China

     The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) announced today (April 9) the special arrangements for public inspection of electoral registers.

     The REO will resume public inspection of the 2019 Final Register of Electors for the Geographical Constituencies, the Final Register of Electors for the Functional Constituencies and the Final Register of Voters for the Election Committee Subsectors (Registers of Electors). Given that the offices of the REO and the Electoral Information Centre are temporarily closed to align with the limited service arrangements announced by the Government to reduce social contact and the risk of the spread of disease in the community, the REO will make special arrangements for the public inspection of the Registers of Electors.
 
     The special arrangements for public inspection of registers will take effect on April 15. Under the special arrangement, the REO office at 10/F, Harbour Centre, Harbour Road, Wan Chai, will provide the full set of registers for public inspection, whereas its office at 13/F, Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, Kowloon Bay, will provide the Final Register of Electors for the Functional Constituencies and the Final Register of Voters for the Election Committee Subsectors for public inspection. Members of the public who would like to inspect the registers may make appointments by calling 2891 4090 from April 14 during the office hours (from 9am to 6pm, excluding the lunch hour from 12.30pm to 1.30pm and public holidays). Starting on April 15, the REO will provide six time slots for inspection with 30 minutes for each session on each working day for appointments on a first-come, first-served basis. Each person may reserve one inspection time slot per day.
 
     “To reduce social contact and the risk of the spread of disease in the community, members of the public who have successfully made an appointment should inspect the registers at the designated office at the scheduled time, and follow all infection prevention measures and instructions of staff, including wearing a mask, measuring temperature, and wearing disposable gloves provided by the REO throughout the inspection,” a spokesman for the REO said.
 
     The Court of Appeal handed down an injunction order on October 22, 2019, restraining the REO from making available the registers of electors with linked information of electors’ names and respective principal residential addresses for public inspection, until the disposal of application for judicial review of the Junior Police Officers’ Association (JPOA). The Court yesterday (April 8) handed down a judgement to dismiss the JPOA’s application for judicial review.
 
     For enquiries on the above arrangements, please call the REO’s enquiry hotline at 2891 1001 during office hours or email reoenq@reo.gov.hk. read more

     The Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee; the Commissioner of Police, Mr Tang Ping-keung; the Director of Immigration, Mr Erick Tsang; the Commissioner of Custom and Excise, Mr Hermes Tang; the Director of Fire Services, Mr Li Kin-yat; the Commissioner of Correctional Services, Mr Woo Ying-ming; and the Controller of Government Flying Services, Captain West Wu, met the media after attending the special meeting of the Legislative Council Finance Committee on security policy areas today (April 9). Following is the transcript of remarks at the media session:
 
Reporter: I have two questions. So yesterday the court called against the JPOA (Junior Police Officers’ Association)’s appeal to ban the disclosure of voter’s details. How would you respond to that? And the second one is that today the High Court will rule on the anti-mask ban, so if they rule against the ban, how do you think it would affect the Police’s law enforcement? Will it bring inconvenience to them? And how would they adjust to it?
 
Secretary for Security: I respect the decision of the court in respect of your first question. What is important here is the problem of doxxing. The problem of revealing people’s personal particulars without consent, especially when there may be evil motives, such as trying to intimidate a particular person so as not to say something or do something, I think the society should face this issue seriously because it can affect every one of us, whatever your background is, whatever your political stand is. So what is important is for any activities that contravene the law, then of course I have already asked law enforcement agencies to make use of the powers under the present ordinances, so as to take people responsible to justice.
 
     I also understand that the Privacy Commissioner has been seriously examining how these issues can be tackled in a more effective way, such as whether there is any need for new legislative powers for the Privacy Commissioner to carry out his duties more effectively. What is also important is that the public should know that without a person’s consent; if somebody exposes a person’s personal particulars with intent of causing that person harm or making himself some gains, that is a criminal offence liable to a five-year imprisonment.
 
     What is also important is to take note that there is currently an injunction against people putting up, reviewing, exposing personal details of police officers and special constables. That injunction is still valid. 
 
     The second question regarding the judgment in regard to the emergency regulation, of course I will be keenly looking at the decision, and then I will study the judgment.  
 
Reporter: If the court…(inaudible)
 
Secretary for Security: I shall not speculate here, but what is important is that we all will examine the judgment in detail. 
 
Reporter: There are reports suggesting that some defendants who are now facing charges related to the anti-extradition protests, they told the court that they were attacked by the Police during their arrest and also during their detention in the police stations. Is the Police aware of such incidents and how would you follow up on these alleged or possible police abuse?
 
Secretary for Security: Any allegations against the Police will be followed up seriously by the Complaints Against Police Office, which will investigate each case thoroughly and impartially. The investigation result will be reported to the Independent Police Complaints Council, comprising independent members of different backgrounds, including people with a legal background. We should give time to the investigation of all these complaints. It will not be appropriate to speculate at this stage, that’s the first point.   
 
      The second point is, there are a lot of so-called allegations made by a lot of people, but these people never come up to give their side of the story to the Police. It is totally unfair and sometimes gets people to suspect the motives when somebody makes serious allegations against government officials, including police officers, without providing actual information or evidence. This is very unfair and also can be misleading, particularly we have already noted that some of these people who have made such allegations have been changing their stories from time to time. So, it is important that people making all these allegations come out to prove what they believe is what’s happening, rather than making allegations on air, sometimes being totally masked so as not to show his identity, or not willing to go to the Police to provide the information so that a fair and impartial investigation will be conducted. Thank you very much.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more

     The Transport Department (TD) today (April 9) reminded the public that to facilitate footbridge erection work, the following temporary traffic and transport arrangements will be implemented from about 1am to 5.30am next Saturday (April 18).
 
(A) Road closures
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     The following road sections will be temporarily closed to all vehicular traffic:
 

• the section of Nathan Road between Bute Street and Argyle Street;
• the section of Portland Street between Bute Street and Fife Street; and
• the section of Mong Kok Road between Shanghai Street and Nathan Road.

 
(B) Traffic diversions
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     The following traffic diversions will be implemented during the above road closures:
 

• vehicles on Nathan Road northbound will be diverted via Argyle Street westbound, Tong Mi Road northbound, Prince Edward Road West eastbound, Lai Chi Kok Road southbound and Arran Street eastbound; and
• vehicles on Nathan Road southbound will be diverted via Prince Edward Road West westbound, Portland Street northbound, Yu Chau Street northbound, Boundary Street eastbound, Knight Street southbound, Prince Edward Road West westbound, Sai Yee Street southbound and Argyle Street westbound.

 
(C) Bus and green minibus (GMB) diversions
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     A total of 28 bus routes and six GMB routes will be diverted.
 
(D) Bus stop arrangements
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     Bus stops will be suspended and/or temporarily provided.
 
     Appropriate diversion signs will be erected on-site to guide motorists. The public transport operators will display notices to advise passengers on the temporary arrangements.
 
     The TD anticipates that owing to the diversion arrangements, the travelling time at the road sections concerned will be slightly lengthened. Motorists should exercise tolerance and patience. Public transport commuters are advised to pay attention to the arrangements of route diversions and suspension or relocation of stops.
 
     Members of the public are advised to plan their journeys in advance and allow sufficient travelling time to cater for unexpected delay, and stay alert to the latest traffic news through the media or the TD’s mobile application “HKeMobility” or website (www.td.gov.hk). read more

     Hong Kong Customs today (April 9) alerted members of the public to an unsafe model of a stuffed toy. The public is advised not to let children play with this toy to ensure their safety. Test results indicated that the elastic loop of the toy could pose suffocation risks to children.

     Customs officers earlier conducted a test-buy operation on six models of Easter toys from retailers in different districts for safety testing. Test results revealed that one stuffed toy model would pose a risk of suffocation to children if their neck became entangled with the toy’s elastic loop after elongation.

     Customs officers later conducted an operation and seized a total of 280 pieces of this model of suspected unsafe stuffed toy from nine branches of a chain toy store. 

     An investigation is ongoing.

     Customs reminds members of the public to observe the following safety tips when purchasing toys:

• Pay attention to age recommendations shown on labels;
• Pay attention to and follow the instructions associated with the toys;
• Pay attention to whether the loops of the toys are too long to avoid suffocation caused by young children’s neck becoming entangled with the loops;
• Beware of whether the small parts of toys (e.g. the eyes of stuffed toys) are easily detachable. Detached small parts may block a child’s throat and lead to suffocation if swallowed;
• Check the structure of the toys to see, for example, whether they have a fragile structure, hidden sharp points, rough surfaces, sharp edges or gaps that may pinch children’s fingers;
• Throw away plastic packages of toys and children’s products to avoid children being suffocated; and
• Stop children from playing with the toys immediately if any damage is observed.

     Customs is committed to the protection of consumer interests and regularly conducts spot checks and safety tests on toys and children’s products to ensure that they are reasonably safe for use by consumers.

     Under the Toys and Children’s Products Safety Ordinance, it is an offence to import, manufacture or supply toys for local consumption unless the toys comply with prescribed safety standards. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment for one year on first conviction, and a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for two years on subsequent conviction.

     Members of the public with information relating to suspected unsafe toys or children’s products may make a report via Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk). read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:      As at noon today (April 9), public hospitals had reported to the Department of Health the admission of 90 patients (42 male and 48 female, aged 5 to 86) in th… read more