The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC): In response to media enquiries on the 2018 Legislative Council Kowloon West Geographical Constituency By-election, a spokesman for the EAC mad… read more
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, after attending the launch ceremony of a drone competition in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area organised by Rotary District 3450 today (October 13):
Reporter: Mr Yeung, can you tell us more about the schools that are going to be set up in Greater Bay Area? Is there any worry that there will be enough demand? Will these schools only be targeting at Hong Kong students?
Secretary for Education: Hong Kong will be participating in the Greater Bay Area development. We are expecting that there are more Hong Kong people going to the Greater Bay Area to work and for future development. So we think there may be a need for the children of these people to study Hong Kong curriculum. We are exploring with the Guangdong Provincial Government and other cities’ governments the possibility or feasibility of setting up schools with Hong Kong curriculum. It’s still at a very early stage but we’ve already had good support, at least from the Education Department of Guangdong Province.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more
Hong Kong Customs mounted a joint-operation with the Department of Health (DH) yesterday (October 12) to combat unfair trade practices and unregistered medicines at a medicine shop.
Customs officers conducted a test-buy operation at a medicine shop in Causeway Bay during the operation and arrested a 41-year-old salesman suspected to have applied a false trade description on a brand of medicine by stating it was a particular brand of medicine, in contravention of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO) (Cap 362).
The DH officers then conducted a search at the premises and seized one type of suspected unregistered proprietary Chinese medicines (pCm) and nine types of suspected unregistered pharmaceutical products for further investigation. A 52-year-old owner of the medicine shop was arrested for suspected illegal possession of unregistered pCm and unregistered pharmaceutical products, in contravention of the Chinese Medicine Ordinance (CMO) (Cap 549) and the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (PPO) (Cap 138).
Investigation is ongoing and the arrested persons have been released on bail pending further investigation.
Under the TDO, any person who in the course of any trade or business applies a false trade description to any goods or services commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
According to the CMO, no person shall sell, import or possess any pCm unless the pCm is registered. The maximum penalty involved is a fine of $100,000 and two years’ imprisonment for each offence.
According to the PPO, all pharmaceutical products must be registered with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong before they can be legally sold in the market. Illegal sale or possession of unregistered pharmaceutical products are criminal offences. The maximum penalty for each offence is a fine of $100,000 and two years’ imprisonment.
Customs reminds traders to comply with the requirements of the TDO and consumers to procure products at reputable shops.
Members of the public may report any suspected violations of the TDO to the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
“The public should not buy or use products of doubtful composition or from unknown sources. All registered pCms should carry a Hong Kong registration number on the product label in the format of ‘HKC-XXXXX’ or ‘HKP-XXXXX’. All registered pharmaceutical products should carry a Hong Kong registration number on the package in the format of ‘HK-XXXXX’. Safety, quality and efficacy of unregistered pCms or pharmaceutical products are not guaranteed,” a DH spokesman said. read more
Following is the transcript of the opening remarks by the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, at the Symposium on Innovation & Technology today (October 13):  … read more
The Department of Health (DH) held the 20th Anniversary Ceremony of the Elderly Health Service (EHS) cum Seminar on Promoting Healthy Ageing today (October 13), providing a networking platform for various stakeholders to exchan… read more