The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The meeting of the Legislative Council (LegCo) Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways and the meeting of the LegCo Panel on Education originally scheduled for tomorrow (June 14) at 8.30am and 10.45am respectively have been rescheduled.
A 60-year-old man was sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment suspended for one year at Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts today (June 13) for assaulting three Tobacco and Alcohol Control Inspectors (TACIs) in the exercise of their duties. He was also fined $1,800 for a smoking offence.
The incident took place at Tin Yan Shopping Centre in Tin Shui Wai on March 25, 2019. The man assaulted three TACIs when he was being issued a Fixed Penalty Notice by the TACIs for a smoking offence. He was subsequently arrested and charged by the Police.
A spokesman for the Department of Health urged the public to observe the smoking ban requirements and to co-operate with law enforcement officers.
"Threatening or use of violence on enforcement officers is a serious offence and carries serious legal consequences," the spokesman said.
As of today, there have been three cases of assaulting TACIs in 2019. Since 2007, 89 cases have been recorded and 21 out of 75 offenders convicted for assaulting TACIs were sentenced to immediate imprisonment. The maximum penalty meted out by the court was immediate imprisonment for four months.
​Hong Kong Customs seized about 9 000 pairs of suspected counterfeit sports shoes and 450 suspected smuggled beauty products with an estimated market value of about $560,000 from a container at the Customs Cargo Examination Compound, River Trade Terminal, Tuen Mun on June 8.
Through risk assessment, Customs officers inspected a 40-foot container arriving in Hong Kong from Huangpu, Guangdong, destined for Peru. Upon inspection, Customs officers seized the batch of suspected counterfeit and smuggled goods in the container.
Investigation is ongoing.
Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who imports or exports any goods to which a forged trade mark is applied commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
Members of the public may report any suspected counterfeiting and smuggling activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
The Transport Department (TD) today (June 13) reminded members of the public that the interim special arrangement whereby members of the public may apply for late collection of their expired subsidy for January under the Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme (the Scheme) will end on June 15. Any further late applications beyond June 15 will not be accepted. Commuters who have not collected their subsidy for January may apply for late collection on or before June 15 by calling the Scheme hotline (2969 5500).
"Having regard to the fact that the Scheme is still in its early stage of implementation, and to cater for those who may not have been able to claim the subsidy in the first three months, the Government introduced an interim special arrangement on May 16 whereby members of the public may apply, within one month from the day after the collection period, for late collection of their expired subsidy by calling the Scheme hotline. Upon confirmation of the application, the uncollected subsidy can be collected through various collection channels from the 16th day of the month following the date of the application and within a further three-month period thereafter," the TD spokesman said.
"The interim special arrangement can only be applied to uncollected subsidy for the months of January, February and March by the end of the respective three-month collection periods. Notwithstanding this, members of the public who have yet to collect their subsidy for the months of February and March are advised to collect the subsidy through the established collection channels as soon as possible before June 16 and July 16 respectively, and save making the call to the Scheme hotline to apply for late collection," the spokesman said.
The service hours of the Scheme hotline are from 9am to 9pm on Mondays to Fridays and from 9am to 6pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Members of the public applying for the expired subsidy can press "1" and "0" after choosing the language on the Scheme hotline to be connected to the customer service representatives directly for the application. The respective periods for handling applications for claiming the uncollected subsidy for the months of February and March are as follows:
| Subsidy for the month of | Collection Period (Three months) |
Handling Period for applications for claiming the uncollected subsidy (One month) |
| February | March 16 to June 15 | June 16 to July 15 |
| March | April 16 to July 15 | July 16 to August 15 |
Commuters may check their record of public transport expenses and subsidy amount through the website of the Scheme (www.ptfss.gov.hk), the Octopus App and the Scheme hotline. For enquires about the details of the Scheme, please browse through the Scheme website or call 1823.
The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
Under Rule 14(3) of the Rules of Procedure, the President of the Legislative Council has decided that the Council meeting originally scheduled for June 12 will not be held tomorrow (June 14). Announcement will be made once the President determines the time of the meeting.