A telecommunications company was fined $30,000 at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (December 8) for unauthorised display of commercial publicity materials. ​A spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) said that the FEHD will continue to step up enforcement actions against the unauthorised display of easy-mount frames and other display fittings for business promotion in public places, and will prosecute the beneficiaries of such commercial publicity materials.
The spokesman said the FEHD has all along been concerned about the illegal activity of displaying commercial publicity materials on busy streets. FEHD officers stepped up enforcement actions from June to August this year in the vicinity of Fuk Wah Street, Sham Shui Po, and removed a total of eight posters and their stands. Upon further investigations, the department issued three summonses to the beneficiary, i.e. the telecommunications company, for the unauthorised display of commercial publicity materials on government land. The company was convicted today and fined a total of $30,000, with the maximum fine of $10,000 imposed for each offence.
Under Section 104A(1) of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), any person displaying or affixing a bill or poster on government land without permission commits an offence, and is liable to a maximum penalty of a fine of $10,000 and a daily fine of $300 upon conviction. FEHD officers can also remove the commercial publicity materials and the display fittings and recover the removal costs from the persons concerned pursuant to the relevant legislation.
　
The spokesman reminds street promoters and related commercial organisations to refrain from displaying commercial publicity materials illegally. The department will continue to carry out enforcement actions to curb such illegal activities and improve the communal environment.
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