The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, met with Deputy Commissioner of the National Medical Products Administration Dr Xu Jinghe today (April 1) to have an in-depth exchange on the regulatory regime and reform of drugs and medical devices.  

     Professor Lo said, "The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been ushering in immense opportunities for medical and biotechnological developments in recent years. The National 14th Five-Year Plan has expressed clear support to develop Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology hub. Biomedicine and medical innovation are directly related to people's life and health and also represent immense new quality productive forces. The Resolution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee also pointed out the need to deepen medical and healthcare reform and to support the development mechanisms for innovative drugs and medical devices.

     "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government strenuously works in line with the national objective of deepening medical and healthcare reform by pursuing innovation in the medical field. While integrating into the national development, the HKSAR will capitalise on its unique advantages of international influence and professions to the fullest to develop the city into an international health and medical innovation hub, thereby enabling the innovative medical technologies to go global and attract foreign investment and developing new quality productive forces in biomedicine. Hong Kong will strive to give full play to our strengths to serve the country's needs amid the comprehensive deepening of reform."

     While introducing the approval mechanism for drugs and medical devices, Professor Lo emphasised, "The HKSAR Government will expedite the reform of the approval mechanism for drugs and medical devices to meet the institutional requirement necessary for the health and medical innovation development, such as extending the '1+' mechanism to cover all new drugs, including vaccines and advanced therapy products, since November 1 last year; preparing for the establishment of the Hong Kong Centre for Medical Products Regulation (CMPR) to progress towards the 'primary evaluation' approach, with a view to fully strengthening the drug approval capability of the HKSAR; and taking forward preparatory work for legislating for the statutory regulation of medical devices to dovetail with the timetable for the establishment of the CMPR."

     The Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, and representatives from the Health Bureau and the Department of Health also attended the meeting today.

    

     The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) announced today (April 1) that open auctions for a total of 642 stalls in 46 public markets will be held in April. Market stalls not taken at open auctions will be available to the public for renting at their upset prices on April 22 on a first-come, first-served basis.
     
1. Open auctions

     The types of stalls to be auctioned this time cover cooked food, frozen meat, fresh meat, fresh fish, frozen (chilled) poultry, fruits, vegetables, ready-to-eat food, food-related dry goods and wet goods, non-food related dry goods and wet goods, service trades, siu mei and lo mei, mobile phones/mobile phone accessories/electronic products/electronic parts, pet goods and pet food, hardware/locksmith, etc. The tenancy agreement is a three-year fixed term from May 1, with no right of renewal upon expiry of the tenancy agreement. The upset prices of the monthly rent of the stalls vary depending on the sizes, locations and vacancy periods of the individual stalls. The upset prices for the stalls in an open auction will be initially fixed at 80 per cent of the open market rent (OMR) if the stalls have been vacant for over six months, and at 60 per cent of the OMR if the vacant period has been over eight months. Relevant information is available on the FEHD website.

     The date and venue of the auctions and the number of stalls are as follows:

Kowloon (except Lai Wan Market) (1)
—————————————–
Auction date: April 8 (Tuesday) (am)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: 101

Lai Wan Market
—————–
Auction date: April 8 (Tuesday) (pm)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: two

Kowloon (except Lai Wan Market) (2)
—————————————–
Auction date: April 9 (Wednesday) (am)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: 46

Kowloon (except Lai Wan Market) (3)
—————————————–
Auction date: April 9 (Wednesday) (pm)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: 28

New Territories (1)
———————
Auction date: April 10 (Thursday) (am)
Auction venue: Tseng Choi Street Community Hall, 27 Tseng Choi Street, Tuen Mun, New Territories
Number of stalls: 126

Hong Kong Island and Islands District (except Aberdeen Market) (1)
—————————————————————————-
Auction date: April 11 (Friday) (am)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: 118

Aberdeen Market
——————-
Auction date: April 11 (Friday) (pm)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: 21

Hong Kong Island and Islands District (except Aberdeen Market) (2)
—————————————————————————-
Auction date: April 14 (Monday) (am)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: 81

Hong Kong Island and Islands District (except Aberdeen Market) (3)
—————————————————————————-
Auction date: April 14 (Monday) (pm)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: 63

New Territories (2)
———————
Auction date: April 15 (Tuesday) (am)
Auction venue: Room 410, 4/F, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon
Number of stalls: 56

     Limited seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The admission tickets will be issued 30 minutes prior to the commencement of each auction. Persons who want to attend the auctions must wait at the waiting area of the auction venue and produce their Hong Kong identity card or passport for registration. The registered person will then be provided with an admission ticket for the auctions. In addition, eligible bidders after verification will be issued with a bidding paddle for the auction. The FEHD has also invited representatives of the Police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption to monitor the auctions at the auction venue in order to ensure that the open auctions are conducted in an orderly and fair manner.

2. Renting at upset prices on first-come, first-served basis

     The tenancy agreement of market stalls renting on a first-come, first-served basis is a three-year fixed term from June 1, with no right of renewal upon expiry of the tenancy agreement. The upset prices of the monthly rent of the stalls vary depending on their sizes, locations, vacancy periods and the reduced upset prices from the last open auction of the individual stalls. Relevant information is available on the FEHD website after open auctions.

     Members of the public who are interested in renting a market stall at its upset price should approach the following FEHD offices, as appropriate, to apply in person from 9.30am to 12.30pm or 2.30pm to 4.30pm on April 22:
 

 
     A spokesman for the FEHD said, "Bidders or applicants for the market stalls must be at least 18 years old and ordinarily reside in Hong Kong. To allow more people to bid for or select the stalls and increase customer choices by enhancing the diversity in terms of the variety of stalls, there will be a restriction on the number of stalls to be rented in the same market by a single tenant. Any person who is currently a stall tenant is not allowed to bid in the first round of auction for any stall in the same market, and will only be allowed to bid for one stall in the second round of auction or to select one stall in the same market on a first-come, first-served basis. The existing tenants under the new three-year fixed term tenancy scheme (i.e. those persons who became stall tenants through the market open auctions after August 2022) are allowed to bid for a stall in the auction or select a stall on a first-come, first-served basis in the same market, but shall vacate the current stall and return it to the FEHD before the effective date of commencement of the new tenancy agreement."

     â€‹Details of the open auctions and the public market stalls concerned (including stalls for open auction at reduced upset prices) have been uploaded to the FEHD website (www.fehd.gov.hk/english/pleasant_environment/tidy_market/open_auction_coming.html). Details on renting public market stalls on a first-come, first-served basis will be uploaded to the FEHD website after open auctions (www.fehd.gov.hk/english/pleasant_environment/tidy_market/FCFS/index.html). Interested bidders or applicants may visit the department website or contact the respective District Environmental Hygiene Office.

     The Water Supplies Department (WSD) announced that a WSD-registered consumer of a subdivided flat in North Point, Hong Kong, was convicted today (April 1) of failing to comply with the Water Authority's request to provide relevant information or documents for a suspected case of overcharging for water, in contravention of regulation 47A of the Waterworks Regulations. The consumer pleaded guilty to the offence at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts.
      
     A spokesman for the WSD said that the Waterworks (Amendment) Ordinance (the amended WWO) 2024 has strengthened the power of the Water Authority in evidence collection and information disclosure during the investigation of suspected cases of overcharging for water. The Water Authority can request the landlords, their agents, etc, to provide the tenancy agreement, receipt or payment record for charges for water. Failure to comply with such a request can be an offence, and the offender is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $10,000 and a further fine of up to $1,000 for each day the offence continues. It is anticipated that there will be more prosecution cases. The maximum penalty for overcharging tenants of subdivided units (SDUs) for water has been raised to $25,000 to deter this illegal act. Moreover, providing false or misleading information to the Water Authority is also an offence with a maximum penalty of a $25,000 fine and six months' imprisonment. 
 
     The WSD spokesman strongly appealed to landlords to apply for the installation of separate water meters for their SDUs, which can greatly reduce the risk of contravening the amended WWO. The WSD encourages the public to report any illegal act of overcharging SDU tenants for water for follow-up and investigation by the department. The public can call the WSD Hotline 3468 4963 or WhatsApp 5665 5517 to apply for the installation of separate water meters for SDUs. The WhatsApp hotline also handles matters relating to water overcharging in SDUs. Alternatively, the public can call the WSD Customer Enquiry Hotline 2824 5000 to report water overcharge cases. After calling the hotline and choosing a language, they can press "7" for reporting to staff directly.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     Exchange Fund Bills tender results:
 

 
*"Pro rata ratio" refers to the average percentage of allotment with respect to each tender participant's tendered amount at the "highest yield accepted" level.
 
———————————————————

     Hong Kong Monetary Authority tenders to be held in the week beginning April 7, 2025:
 

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by Chong Hing Bank Limited relating to a fraudulent website and an internet banking login screen, which have been reported to the HKMA. A hyperlink to the press release is available on the HKMA website.
      
     The HKMA wishes to remind the public that banks will not send SMS or emails with embedded hyperlinks which direct them to the banks' websites to carry out transactions. They will not ask customers for sensitive personal information, such as login passwords or one-time password, by phone, email or SMS (including via embedded hyperlinks).
      
     Anyone who has provided his or her personal information, or who has conducted any financial transactions, through or in response to the website or login screen concerned, should contact the bank using the contact information provided in the press release, and report the matter to the Police by contacting the Crime Wing Information Centre of the Hong Kong Police Force at 2860 5012.