The Chief Executive-elect, Mr John Lee, will depart for Beijing tomorrow (May 28) and return on May 31 (Tuesday).
 
     While in Beijing, Mr Lee will receive from the Central People's Government the instrument of appointment as the sixth-term Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
      
     Accompanying Mr Lee will be the Private Secretary to the Chief Executive-elect, Ms Priscilla To, and the Press Secretary, Mr Alex Chan. Mrs Lee will also accompany Mr Lee on the trip.

     â€‹The Government has been distributing free rapid antigen test (RAT) kits to elderly persons aged 60 or above through various elderly service units since mid-April. In the light of the gradual relaxation of social distancing measures and the increase in social activities, the Government announced today (May 27) the extension of the distribution arrangement till the end of June, with a view to encouraging elderly persons to undergo voluntary RAT testing from time to time and monitor own health condition.
      
     A total of around 6 million RAT kits have been distributed by the Government through relevant channels since the launch of the distribution arrangement.
      
     A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) said that given the high transmissibility of the Omicron mutant strain, members of the public must stay vigilant even though the epidemic situation has subsided a little recently, particularly elderly persons who have a higher COVID-19 infection risk. Making good use of RAT kits to conduct frequent testing allows early identification of infected persons, thereby achieving the goal of "early identification, early isolation and early treatment". This will help prevent the elderly from developing serious illness or even dying upon infection.
      
     All elderly persons aged 60 or above (including members and non-members) may collect free RAT kits in person at the service units listed below. They should bring along any documents for proof of age, such as identification documents, Senior Citizen Cards or JoyYou Cards, for verification purposes. To allow more elderly persons to benefit from the distribution, only five sets of RAT kits in total will be provided each time. Recipients should not collect on behalf of other persons nor collect the RAT kits repeatedly on the same day.

* District Health Centres (DHCs) and DHC Expresses under the Primary Healthcare Office of the FHB;
* District Elderly Community Centres/Neighbourhood Elderly Centres/Social Centres for the Elderly subsidised by the Social Welfare Department (SWD);
* Elderly Health Centres under the Department of Health; and
* District-based Chinese Medicine Clinics cum Training and Research Centres (with visiting patients as the primary target recipients) operating on a tripartite collaboration model involving the Hospital Authority, non-government organisations and a local university.

     "The supply of RAT kits is sufficient. There is no need for elderly persons to stockpile the RAT kits. To reduce the risk of infection, elderly persons should avoid collecting RAT kits from service units during peak hours if not attending medical consultation," the spokesman added.
      
     The Day Care Centres/Units for the Elderly, Integrated Home Care Services Teams, Enhanced Home and Community Care Services Teams and Recognised Service Providers of the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly subsidised by the SWD will continue to provide free RAT kits to their service users aged 60 or above.
      
     The Government is also providing free COVID-19 nucleic acid testing service to all elderly people aged 60 or above at community testing centres (CTCs) and mobile specimen collection stations. No advance booking is needed for the elderly. For locations of the CTCs and mobile specimen collection stations, please browse www.communitytest.gov.hk.

     The Government announced today (May 27) that the Chief Executive has appointed Dr Conrad Wong Tin-cheung as the Chairman of the Council of Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) for a term of three years with effect from June 20, 2022.  
 
     The Chief Executive also appointed Mr Henry Tong Sau-chai and Mr Arnold Cheng Ka-kui as the Deputy Chairman and the Treasurer of the HKMU Council respectively for the same period.
 
     The Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, welcomed the appointments. "Dr Wong has served as Deputy Chairman of the Council since 2019. He has a strong commitment to serving the community and a solid track record of public service, including his past service on the Vocational Training Council as the Deputy Chairman. I am confident that with his breadth of experience in the education sector, he will competently lead HKMU from strength to strength," he said.
 
     Mr Yeung also paid tribute to Mr Michael Wong Yick-kam, the outgoing Chairman of the HKMU Council. "Having served on the Council since 2006 and as Chairman since 2016, Mr Wong has spearheaded numerous initiatives to further the development of HKMU, including the retitling of the university, the commissioning of the Jockey Club Institute of Healthcare campus, and taking forward the HKMU (Zhaoqing) development project. Under his visionary leadership, HKMU celebrated its 30th anniversary and continued to evolve into a full-fledged comprehensive university offering students high-quality education and flexible learning pathways. The achievements of HKMU over the past years owe much to the contributions of Mr Wong," he said.

     A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said today (May 27) the department will solicit views from members of the public on the optimisation of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process stipulated under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO), through two online public engagement forums and email.

     The Chief Executive announced in the 2021 Policy Address that the Government will conduct a comprehensive review on the EIA process stipulated under the EIAO. The EPD has briefed members of the Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs (Annex 1) and the Advisory Council on Environment (Annex 2, English only) respectively this March on how the EIAO process could be enhanced with a view to optimising its process, enhancing its operational efficiency and focusing more on environmental outcomes.
 
     The spokesman said the EPD will take on board the comments received in the review exercise.
 
     The two online public engagement forums will be held on:

• June 8 (Wednesday) from 6.30pm to 8.30pm (conducted in English); and
• June 13 (Monday) from 6.30pm to 8.30pm (conducted in Cantonese)

Members of the public who are interested in attending can register on or before June 2 via the link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeft5lvCYmD5ngK4-MsJfa0HlgyJ4RlDjRjsrr3esCSaJIPaA/viewform?usp=pp_url.
 
        Public views and suggestions on the optimisation exercise can also be submitted on or before June 30 via email at eiao_review@epd.gov.hk.

     The intellectual property (IP) regime has all along been very important to Hong Kong as an international trade centre. Updating Hong Kong's copyright regime and strengthening copyright protection in the digital environment are important parts of the strategy to develop Hong Kong into a regional IP trading centre under the National 14th Five-Year Plan. Hong Kong's IP regime must keep abreast with the times and international norms, as well as meet its social and economic needs.     
      
     A spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said, "The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2022 (the Bill) was gazetted today (May 27). The copyright system is an important part of the IP regime. On the one hand, it effectively protects private property rights arising from original works. On the other hand, it allows the public to make reasonable use of copyright works. This is crucial to encouraging creativity, technological development, as well as the dissemination and advancement of knowledge, underpinning the development of a knowledge-based economy.
      
     "To strengthen copyright protection in the digital environment, the Government has introduced amendment bills twice, in 2011 and 2014 respectively, into the Legislative Council (LegCo). While the respective LegCo bills committees supported the passage of the amendment bills on both occasions, the corresponding legislative processes could not be completed before the expiry of the respective LegCo terms. After improving the electoral system, enabling the executive and the legislature to resume rational interaction, we consider that it is high time to revive the long overdue copyright legislative amendment exercise. We believe that LegCo will surely complete scrutinising the Bill in a serious, detailed and efficient manner for its early passage."
      
     The key legislative proposals of the Bill, using the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 as the basis, are the result of years of consultations and deliberations since 2006, representing the consensus and balance of interests of different stakeholders. The relevant legislative proposals cover the following five key areas:
 
1. To introduce an exclusive technology-neutral communication right for copyright owners in light of technological developments;
 
2. To introduce criminal sanctions against infringements relating to the new communication right;
 
3. To revise and expand the scope of copyright exceptions to allow use of copyright works in certain common Internet activities; facilitate online learning and operation of libraries, archives and museums; and allow media shifting of sound recordings, etc;
 
4. To introduce "safe harbour" provisions to provide incentives for online service providers to co-operate with copyright owners in combating online piracy and to provide reasonable protection for their acts; and
 
5. To introduce two additional statutory factors for the court to consider when assessing whether to award additional damages to copyright owners in civil cases involving copyright infringements.
 
     The Government conducted a three-month public consultation on updating Hong Kong's copyright regime in November 2021. The majority of respondents agree that there is an imminent need for Hong Kong to update the copyright regime and generally support the Government's key legislative proposals. The LegCo Panel on Commerce and Industry also supports these proposals. 
      
     The spokesman said, "We will continue to engage stakeholders and solicit LegCo's support during the legislative amendment exercise to secure passage of the Bill as soon as possible. This will also demonstrate to society that after improving the electoral system, the executive and the legislature can effectively resolve issues which affect our long-term economic development, and work together to develop Hong Kong into a regional IP trading centre."
      
     The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development will introduce the Bill into LegCo for first and second readings on June 8.