Author Archives: hksar gov

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, on child abuse today (September 5) after attending “The 17th Hong Kong Occupational Safety & Health Award” Forum and Award Presentation Ceremony:
 
Reporter: What are the determining factors? Given the several recent high-profile cases, what are the factors that your bureau is considering when it comes to calls to review the law with regard to child abuse?
 
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: It’s too early to talk about what the factors are. There seems to be a need to look at, at least to explore, if there is any possibility or need to review the existing legislation, and whether they are adequate in terms of dealing with this kind of, you can say, crimes. Although we are not very sure (whether) increasing the sentence will have any additional deterrent effect or not, somehow by looking at what the judges have said and what the community has been responding, there is a need for us to explore if there is a need for such review.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more

     Hong Kong’s advances in innovation and technology (I&T) have been in the spotlight in Germany over the past week thanks to the efforts of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Berlin (HKETO Berlin) and other organisations. 

     On August 29, the Director of HKETO Berlin, Mr Bill Li, visited Aachen in Germany and met with the Head of the Department of Operative Technology Management at the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT), Mr Toni Drescher. Mr Drescher is also the Chief Executive Officer of KEX Knowledge Exchange AG (KEX), a spinoff from the Fraunhofer IPT, and Director of the INC Invention Center on the Aachen Campus of RWTH, one of the top 100 universities in the new Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The INC Invention Center housed in the KEX office is a place where companies can find a network of I&T experts, information managers and business model specialists who help turn ideas into innovations. KEX is teaming up with the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to replicate the INC Invention Center in Hong Kong to support Hong Kong enterprises in smart products and services invention, time-to-market development and prototyping by leveraging the intensive expertise and diverse technology networks of KEX and the HKPC.

     Hong Kong was also present at this year’s IFA, a trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, held in Berlin from August 31 to today (September 5). The Hong Kong Pavilion hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), a public corporation set up by the Hong Kong Government to foster the development of I&T in Hong Kong, showcased what the city has to offer as a hub for I&T development. 

     The HKSTP delegation led by the Corporation’s Head of Electronics & ICT Clusters, Smart City Platform, Mr Peter Yeung, further strengthened multilateral ties with scientists, entrepreneurs and experts when visiting Berlin’s noted European Energy Forum Campus (EUREF Campus), which hosts around 100 companies from the focus sectors of energy, sustainability and mobility. HKSTP delegates exchanged ideas with their EUREF Campus counterparts on digitisation, smart mobility, smart living and smart government.

     During the past week’s promotional efforts, German enterprises and researchers were briefed on how Hong Kong is preparing for the future. Asia’s world city is not only widely acknowledged as the world’s freest economy and China’s international financial centre but is also advancing in I&T. Local and international talents, world-class research facilities and robust intellectual property protection underpin Hong Kong’s growing success in I&T.

     Among the renowned overseas institutions that have set up operations in  Hong Kong is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which launched its Innovation Node, a collaborative space that aims to connect the MIT community with unique resources, in the city in 2015. The Swedish Karolinska Institutet also reached out to Hong Kong: its Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine functions as a technology hub exploring novel technologies, including genome editing, reprogramming, single cell transcriptomics, biomedical engineering, and 3D tissue imaging technologies.

     The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area comprises the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao and the nine municipalities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province. The essence of the Bay Area development is to leverage the comparative advantages of every Bay Area city to the largest extent; deepen co-operation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao; facilitate in-depth and organic regional integration; and drive co-ordinated regional economic development. Hong Kong’s connectivity within the Bay Area will be further enhanced by the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, which will commence operation on September 23, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge expected to complete by the end of 2018. 

     The steadily improving connectivity in the region is emphasised by the fact that Hong Kong will host FinTech Week from October 29 to November 2 with the financial technology event taking place in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The event is one of the largest conferences on the international calendar, and is expected to attract more than 8 000 senior executives and feature over 200 of the world’s top financial technology founders, investors, regulators and academics who are shaping the future of financial services by driving a technological revolution across Asia and globally. Hong Kong’s hosting of this signature event is further proof of the city’s emerging status as Asia’s hub for I&T.

     For more information about FinTech Week, please visit www.fintechweek.hk, and for more facts about the Bay Area, please see www.bayarea.gov.hk.

About HKETO Berlin

     HKETO Berlin is the official Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government representative in commercial relations and other economic and trade matters in Germany as well as Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland. 

    

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (September 5) that 50 cartons of sweet potato (a total of 250 kilograms) from Chiba Prefecture and 10 cartons of yam (a total of 40 kilograms) from Gunma Prefecture, Japan were illegally imported into Hong Kong, breaching the relevant Food Safety Order. None of the products concerned have entered the market. The CFS is following up on the case.
      
     A spokesman for the CFS said, “The CFS inspected a consignment of food imported from Japan and found that the above-mentioned products from Chiba and Gunma Prefectures therein were not accompanied with radiation certificates and exporter certificates issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan, breaching the relevant Food Safety Order. The products concerned have not entered the market and have been marked and sealed by the CFS. The Centre has taken samples of the products concerned for testing of radiation level and no radiation has been detected.
      
     “According to the Order, the import of vegetables, fruit, milk, milk beverages and dried milk from four Japanese prefectures, namely Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba and Gunma, must be accompanied with radiation certificates and exporter certificates issued by the MAFF of Japan. The CFS conducts a radiation test on each consignment of Japanese food imported, and requires importers not to sell the products until the test result turns out to be satisfactory. The aforementioned illegal imports were detected by the CFS during inspection and the products concerned did not enter the market. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the CFS’ gate-keeping work.”
      
     The CFS has informed the Japanese authorities concerned of the incident, and will continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action. Prosecution will be instituted against the importer concerned should there be sufficient evidence. Investigation is ongoing. read more

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chaired the third meeting of the Human Resources Planning Commission this afternoon (September 5).          &nb… read more

     Five women were fined from $6,500 to $9,000 at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts today (September 5) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
      
     The courts heard that in November last year and February this year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected five suspected unlicensed guesthouses on Portland Street, Nathan Road, Nelson Street, Jordan Road and To Kwa Wan Road in Kowloon. During the inspections, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented rooms in these guesthouses on a daily basis.
      
     According to the OLA’s records, these guesthouses did not possess licences under the Ordinance on the days of inspection. The women responsible for managing the premises were charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
      
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years’ imprisonment.
           
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application “Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses”. read more