Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ6: Management Scheme for the Display of Roadside Non-commercial Publicity Materials
Following is a question by the Hon Steven Ho Chun-yin and a reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative
Council today (October 9):
Question:
According to section 104A of the Public Health and Municipal Services
Ordinance, any person displaying or affixing a bill or poster (including
displaying roadside publicity materials) on government land without the
written permission of the Authority commits an offence. Recently, some
members of the public have complained to me that very often a large
number of banners have been illegally hung by various bodies on the
roadside railings at busy road sections with heavy pedestrian flows
(including those in major business districts, popular tourist spots and
traffic hubs), which obstruct the view of motorists and distract their
attention, thus posing hazards to road safety. In addition, some of the
banners have been damaged or loosened with the passage of time, causing
obstruction to pedestrians and vehicles, as well as affecting the
streetscape. In this connection, will the Government inform this
Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in the past
three years regarding illegal hanging of banners; details of the law
enforcement actions taken by the authorities (including the numbers of
inspections conducted, illegal banners removed, and prosecutions
instituted against the persons concerned, and the total amount of fines
imposed on the persons concerned);
(b) whether the authorities have considered compiling a list of black
spots at which banners have been illegally hung, so as to facilitate
targeted inspections and law enforcement actions; if they have, of the
details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) given that some members of the public have pointed out that in
recent years, some people often hang anonymous or impersonated banners
containing defamatory contents in public places when the patrol staff of
the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department are off duty, of the
number of such complaints received in the past three years and the
follow-up actions taken by the authorities?
Reply:
President,
The Lands Department (LandsD) started the "Management Scheme for the
Display of Roadside Non-commercial Publicity Materials" (Management
Scheme) in May 2003 to manage the display of non-commercial publicity
materials on the roadside, and made revisions to the "Implementation
Guidelines" of the Management Scheme in August 2011. The non-commercial
publicity materials in question are usually displayed by members of the
Legislative Council and District Councils (DCs), DCs and their
committees, as well as non-profit-making organisations for the purpose
of promoting/publicising activities that are non-commercial in nature or
of interest to the public, and disseminating information that is of
general interest or use to the public.
For the purpose of implementing the Management Scheme, some officers in
the LandsD are authorised by the Director of Food and Environmental
Hygiene to give permission for the display of roadside non-commercial
publicity materials under section 104A(1)(b) of the Public Health and
Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132). For the display of publicity
materials that is verified by the LandsD as being unauthorised or
non-compliant with the Implementation Guidelines, the Food and
Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will remove the publicity
materials and recover the removal costs from the parties concerned under
section 104C(1) of the above Ordinance.
The FEHD conducts joint operations with the LandsD regularly to remove
publicity materials the display of which is unauthorised or
non-compliant with the Implementation Guidelines, as well as those which
are loosened and may impede pedestrian and vehicular movements. For
cases involving unauthorised display of non-commercial publicity
materials, the Government will, apart from recovering the removal costs
from the persons concerned, decide whether to prosecute the owners of
the publicity materials or the persons who may benefit from the display
of them, having regard to the circumstances of each case and the
relevant law.
In cases where FEHD staff come across any commercial publicity materials
(including banners) that are displayed without permission, the
Department will remove such materials immediately. FEHD officers will
consider instituting prosecution against anyone who is found putting up
commercial publicity materials or banners at the scene and, subject to
the availability of adequate evidence (from sources including the
information shown on the publicity materials), anyone who may benefit
from the display of such publicity materials. Moreover, a new measure
has been adopted by the FEHD since March 2011 to issue, under the Fixed
Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance (Cap. 570), $1,500 fixed
penalty notices to offenders who display publicity materials in public
places without permission, including those displayed on easy-mount
frames.
My reply to the question is as follows:
(a) The number of complaints received by the FEHD against unauthorised
display of publicity materials and the incidence of enforcement actions
taken in the past three years are set out below.
For 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August), the number of complaints about
unauthorised display of publicity materials in public places was 3 399;
3 651; and 2 823 respectively.
The number of publicity materials removed by the FEHD in 2011; 2012; and
2013 (up to August) was 3 410 967; 3 340 171; and 2 140 014
respectively.
The number of cases involving enforcement actions taken against
unauthorised display of publicity materials in public places by the FEHD
was 3 315; 4 492; and 4 042 respectively for 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to
August).
The enforcement statistics comprise the following:
The number of prosecutions against unauthorised display of publicity
materials in public places was 112; 84; and 95 respectively for 2011;
2012; and 2013 (up to August).
The number of prosecutions against obstruction of public places by the
display of unauthorised publicity materials was 1 487; 2 845; and 2 948
respectively in 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August).
The number of $1,500 fixed penalty notices was 1 716; 1 563; and 999
respectively in 2011; 2012; and 2013 (up to August).
The FEHD does not keep separate statistics on the number of inspections.
(b) The FEHD will take enforcement actions and determine the locations
of joint operations with the LandsD, having regard to the circumstances
of the respective districts, including complaints received about
unauthorised display of publicity materials, findings during
inspections, as well as the views of the DCs.
(c) Over the past three years, the FEHD has not received any complaints
about unauthorised display of banners containing messages that are
defamatory. The FEHD will continue to handle all cases involving
unauthorised display of publicity materials in accordance with the
Management Scheme and the relevant legislation.
Ends/Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:14
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