Hong Kong Customs prepares for Labour Day Golden Week of Mainland (with photos)
Hong Kong Customs has drawn up a series of measures to prepare for the arrival of Mainland visitors during the Labour Day Golden Week of the Mainland to ensure smooth passenger and vehicular flows at each control point. Customs has also stepped up patrols at popular shopping spots in various districts and distributed pamphlets at land boundary control points and popular shopping spots, with a view to safeguarding and promoting rights of local consumers and visitors, and creating a good travel experience for visitors.
The Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Ms Louise Ho, inspected operations of the Lo Wu Control Point and the Express Rail Link West Kowloon Control Point, and met frontline staff there this morning (April 30) to learn about and direct the arrangements at the control points for the Labour Day Golden Week of the Mainland. Ms Ho said the department will flexibly deploy manpower to ensure smooth operations and strengthen passenger clearance at each control point for faster and smoother clearance of travellers. The department will also maintain close liaison with the Mainland Customs and Macao Customs to share the latest real-time situation of each control point, so that necessary co-ordination and arrangements can be made.
With the Labour Day Golden Week of the Mainland approaching, Customs has enhanced its promotion of consumer protection to Mainland residents. A series of new promotional videos were produced on Customs official accounts on Mainland social platforms, including WeChat and Douyin, to unveil common unfair trade practices and remind Mainland tourists to stay alert when shopping and avoid falling into consumer pitfalls of unfair trade practices. They were also reminded to pay attention to relevant import and export requirements as well as prohibited and controlled items to avoid contravention of the law.
Moreover, Customs has launched a special operation since April 27 to step up patrols during the Labour Day Golden Week of the Mainland at popular shopping spots in various districts and to remind traders to comply with the requirements of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO), with a view to safeguarding rights of local consumers and visitors.
Apart from patrolling popular shopping spots, Customs officers will also drive publicity at dried seafood and ginseng shops, medicine shops and jewellery shops in different tourist shopping areas such as Yau Tsim Mong and Causeway Bay. Retail shops and workers in the tourist industry will be reminded to comply with the requirements of the TDO.
Customs officers will also distribute pamphlets at land boundary control points and popular shopping spots to remind visitors that they should have a good understanding of a product's specifications and make comparisons before purchase. They should patronise shops with a good reputation. They are also reminded to check carefully the total price and unit price of the goods before making payment, and to retain the transaction receipts and related records, which can be used as the basis for follow-up action in case a complaint is lodged in the future.
Customs has long been concerned about visitors being misled to make purchases by unfair trade practices and has established a Quick Response Team to handle urgent complaints lodged by short-haul visitors. The complaints will be promptly referred to investigators to handle with priority.
Under the TDO, any trader who adopts unfair trade practices, including making false trade descriptions in relation to goods, misleading omissions, aggressive commercial practices as well as bait and switch practices, commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
Members of the public may report suspected violations of the TDO to the Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).
