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The Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau (CITB) and the departments under its auspices will continue to provide quality services after the implementation of the five-day week starting from July 1.
A spokesman for the CITB said today (June 22) that in line with the implementation of the five-day week work schedule the opening hours of the bureau, including the Commerce and Industry Branch and the Communications and Technology Branch, will be from 8.45am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
The normal office hours of the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC), Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA), Intellectual Property Department (IPD), Invest Hong Kong (IHK), and Trade and Industry Department (TID) would be extended on weekdays to ensure that the overall level and efficiency of the services offered by these departments could be maintained.
Members of the public can also make use of other online or electronic means to access the public services being provided by those departments over the counters.
For the ITC, the services currently provided on Saturdays by the office of the Hong Kong Accreditation Service, Product Standards Information Bureau, and Standards and Calibration Laboratory will stop from July 1. Members of the public or organisations could send in their applications or requests for these services by e-mail, mail, fax, or phone. Details of the new office hours are available at the ITC website: www.itc.gov.hk.
For OFTA, the new service hours for the hotline, 2961 6333, for enquiries on general and licensing matters will be from 8.30am to 5.45pm, Monday to Friday, while the services for the existing 24-hour hotline 2389 8131 for receiving complaints about radio frequency interference will remain unchanged.
For TELA, the public counters for film classification, newspapers registration, and entertainment licencing, as well as the Film Services Office Resource Centre and Healthy Information Resource Centre (HIRC), will also close on Saturdays. The new office hours will be from 8.45am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, except for the HIRC, which will open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Members of the public are welcome to make their submissions or enquiries by post, fax or email. For enquiries, please call 2594 5883, or send a fax: 2507 2219 or an email: enquiry@tela.gov.hk.
For RTHK, the opening hours of the reception counter in Broadcasting House will be changed to 8.45am to 6pm from Monday to Friday, and those in Television House and Educational Television Centre to 8.45am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday. All the broadcasting and Internet services will remain unchanged.
As regards IHK, the spokesman explained that the clients of the department were mainly investors from overseas or the Mainland. As most of them came from markets operating on a five-day week and interact with the department on weekdays, enquiries or requests for services on Saturdays had always been minimal.
Nevertheless, to maintain the level of services to potential and existing investors, IHK's working hours will be extended on weekdays, that is, from 8.45am to 6pm, more than compensating for the closure of the office on Saturdays.
For the IPD, the public counters for receiving applications for registration of trademarks, patents and designs, collection of fees and answering enquiries will be closed on Saturdays, but their opening hours on weekdays will be extended to 9am to 5.45pm.
The department has been providing electronic services since 2003. Users can conduct online searches for trademarks, patents and designs records at http://ipsearch.ipd.gov.hk/ and file applications for registration at https://iponline.ipd.gov.hk round the clock. For details, please visit the IPD website at http://www.ipd.gov.hk .
"The changes in opening hours of all these departments have taken into account the community's demands for the departments' services on Saturdays. We believe the impact of the new mode of operation on the public is minimal.
"We will closely monitor the public reaction to our service delivery pattern and review the operation when necessary," the spokesman said.
For details of the Government's five-day week arrangements, visit the dedicated website (www.info.gov.hk/info/5day/).
(Please also refer to the press release issued by the Trade and Industry Department.)
Ends/Thursday, June 22, 2006
Issued at HKT 11:31
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