The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) announced today (February 1) that the 2024 Lunar New Year (LNY) fairs will be held at 15 locations for seven days from February 4 (Sunday) to 7am on February 10. About 1 500 items of wet goods, dry goods, fast food and thematic stalls will be set up to enable the public to buy festive plants and flowers, LNY food, decorations and spring couplets (fai chun) to welcome the LNY.
A spokesman for the FEHD said, "In addition to wet goods stalls selling New Year flowers, dry goods and fast food stalls that were suspended in previous years due to the epidemic will be provided this year, marking the society's resumption of normalcy in full."
The spokesman added, "The venues of the LNY fairs will be monitored using innovation and technology measures and crowd control will be implemented when necessary. The footfall of the 15 LNY fairs will be displayed in a 'green, amber and red lights' format on the FEHD website to enable the public to know about the crowds at the fair. A green light means few people are inside the fair, the amber light indicates the fair venue is slightly crowded, while the red light shows that the fair venue is very crowded.
"Furthermore, admission to the LNY fairs will cease 15 minutes prior to the closing time every day. Persons who are interested in attending are advised to reserve sufficient time to enjoy the fun of visiting the LNY fairs."
The FEHD will adopt various waste reduction and recycling measures this year. Apart from collecting general recyclables including waste paper, plastics and metals in the fairs, the department will also arrange for contractors to collect bamboo sticks, wooden pallets, polyfoam and wilted or unsold flowers with reusable value. In addition, the FEHD will gather unsold pots of flowers and plants donated by vendors in the fairs, which will then be delivered to elderly homes, residential care homes for persons with disabilities and public hospitals by volunteer teams made up of FEHD staff on LNY's Day (February 10).
The FEHD reminded licensees that the stalls are solely for the purpose of selling and promoting the sale of the permitted commodities, and no other activities are allowed in the licensed area. If the FEHD considers that any activity conducted by the licensee to publicise, promote, display, show or sell any permitted commodities in the venue is unlawful, contrary to the interest of national security, or being immoral or incompatible with the object of the LNY fair, the FEHD is entitled to direct the licensee to stop conducting such activity and the licensee must immediately comply with such direction.
In addition, as stated in the licence agreement, the height of dry goods and fast food stalls must not exceed 3 metres, while the height of wet goods stalls must not exceed 4.5m from ground level. For wet goods stalls with a height of more than 3m from ground level, the licensee must, at his own expense, provide the FEHD with a certificate issued by an authorised person, a registered structural engineer, or a competent person under the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations (Cap. 59I) to certify the structural safety of the stall structure before the LNY fairs are opened to the public. Among them, the competent person specified in Chapter 59I refers to scaffolding personnel who have received relevant training and have relevant experience. Their qualification requirements are consistent with requirements on the market that require the erection of bamboo scaffolding for construction projects. In other words, a licensee of wet goods stalls can hire qualified scaffolders to build stall structure and require the scaffolders to sign a certificate to certify the safety of stalls.
Furthermore, the FEHD reminded licensees that no floating LED glowing balloons and aquarium fish should be sold in the LNY fairs. If balloons or gas-filled articles are to be displayed or offered for sale, only air or helium is allowed to be used for inflating the products. There are also stipulations on the storage of helium cylinders at the fair venues. According to the licence agreement, licensees must not keep, store or use more than 150 litres of helium, i.e. the maximum quantity for which a licence is not required, pursuant to the Dangerous Goods (Application and Exemption) Regulation 2012 (Cap. 295E) in the licenced area. For the sake of safety, no floating LED glowing balloons will be allowed to be brought into the LNY fair venues.
The spokesman also urged members of the public to keep the environment clean and not to litter while enjoying the festive season. Stall operators should also properly dispose of waste and keep their stalls and the surroundings clean and tidy.
For information on the 2024 LNY fairs including the locations and opening hours, please visit the FEHD website or call the FEHD hotline at 2868 0000.