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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, on external lighting after officiating at the Charter on External Lighting signing ceremony today (April 1):
Reporter: How effective is the Charter without penalty or legislation? Will you in future think of implementing legislation like that in London ...?
Secretary for the Environment: As I said earlier, it is a step forward. Based on the previous complaints, the EPD (Environmental Protection Department) has tried to meet the concerned companies to strike a balance, and this Charter will help consolidate the society's efforts. Through the Charter, they will shut off their external lighting by 11pm or midnight to 7am the following day. Through concerted efforts, we can help minimise light nuisance and also save energy and save costs. While we are going to have our launch day, there are more than 4 000 organisations or companies joining this Charter. From the signee list, we can see that many of them are from the concerned districts, like Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok. So actually it reflects that the companies are trying to make a turn and support the movement. So it is a good step forward and we will monitor the situation and see how that will improve the overall minimisation of light nuisance.
Reporter: How about legislation?
Secretary for the Environment: As I said earlier, we will monitor the progress, say, within two to three years, to see the result and whether Hong Kong will need a more stringent requirement.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, April 1, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:40
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