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Members of the public are reminded that provisions related to the control of health claims of orally consumed products under the Undesirable Medical Advertisements (Amendment) Ordinance 2005 will come into force tomorrow (June 1).
By then, the advertising of six groups of health claims of orally consumed products, except those customarily consumed as food or drink, will be prohibited/restricted.
The Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance (UMAO) (Cap 231) was first enacted in 1953 with the purpose of protecting public health through prohibiting/restricting advertisements which may induce the seeking of improper management of certain health conditions. Under the Ordinance, "advertisement" includes any notice, poster, circular, label, wrapper or document, and any announcement made orally or by any means of producing or transmitting light or sound.
"Specifically, advertisements likely to lead to the use of any medicine, surgical appliance or treatment for the purpose of treating human beings for, or preventing them from contracting, diseases or conditions or for purposes specified in the Schedules of the Ordinance are not allowed," a DH spokesman said.
The Ordinance was amended in June 2005 after careful risk assessment and consultation, against the background of an ever increasing number of orally consumed products with various health claims on the local market, coupled with stakeholders' concern about their impact on public health. A new Schedule 4 on prohibition/restriction on six groups of health claims for orally consumed products is added to curb the threat.
To enable the trade to understand the new scope of regulation of health claims related to orally consumed products under the Amendment Ordinance, the DH has been launching various education and publicity activities for stakeholders since 2005. In particular, a set of guidelines on the Amendment Ordinance has been prepared for the trade and briefings and seminars have been organised to provide platforms for interactive communication between stakeholders and the regulatory authority.
"In addition to the existing requirements of the UMAO, by tomorrow, no person shall publish, or cause to be published, an advertisement for an orally consumed product which makes for the product a claim specified in column 1 of Schedule 4 of the Ordinance, or any similar claim, except as allowed under the provisions in column 2 of that Schedule," the spokesman said.
Other major amendments include increasing the penalty for contravention of the UMAO, and empowering the Director of Health to appoint inspectors to enforce the Ordinance.
According to the Amendment Ordinance, any person who contravenes the provisions shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon a first conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000 and six months' imprisonment and upon a second or subsequent conviction to a maximum fine of $100,000 and one year's imprisonment.
Traders and members of the public may visit the Drug Office's website (www.drugoffice.gov.hk) for more details.
Ends/Thursday, May 31, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:15
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