The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will step up enforcement actions against the unauthorised display of easy-mount frames and other display fittings for business promotion on busy streets from October to November with a view to curbing such illegal activities and improving the district environment.
      
     An FEHD spokesman said today (September 25), "The unauthorised display of commercial publicity materials such as bills and posters with the use of easy-mount frames, A-shape boards, placards and other display fittings on streets, pavements and pedestrian precincts with high pedestrian flow is increasingly rampant, and have caused street obstruction, environmental hygiene problems and obstructions to drivers' views. The FEHD will mount operations to step up enforcement actions against such illegal activities at targeted blackspots in various districts in the territory from October to November so as to combat the problem and improve the district environment.
      
     "During the operations, FEHD officers will issue fixed penalty notices on the spot to offenders caught red-handed for illegal display activities, and the promotion materials will be removed. The beneficiaries of the commercial publicity materials will also be prosecuted should there be sufficient evidence."
      
     He said that 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 FEHD has stepped up public education in the past week by issuing warnings to vendors and street promoters in the vicinity of the targeted blackspots in various districts and related commercial organisations to remind them to refrain from displaying commercial publicity materials illegally, or they may face prosecution. The above enforcement operations will be launched next week.

     The spokesman said that the FEHD will evaluate the effectiveness after this round of enforcement actions for formulation of the objectives and strategies of future operations.

Ends/Monday, September 25, 2017
Issued at HKT 15:00

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