Legislative Council

LC Paper No. LS 62/98-99

Date of Tabling in LegCo : 18 November 1998

Amendment to be made by : 16 December 1998 (or 6 January 1999 if extended by resolution)

Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 141)
Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 1998 (L. N. 346)

Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 141)
Prevention of the Spread of Infectious Disease Regulations (Amendment of Form) Order 1998 (L. N. 347)

L.N. 346 and L.N. 347 amend, respectively, the First Schedule to the Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 141) ("the Ordinance") and Form 2 of the Schedule to the Prevention of the Spread of Infectious Diseases Regulations (Cap. 141 sub. leg.) ("the Regulations") by adding a disease, namely, chickenpox, to the list of infectious diseases to the respective Schedule and Form.

In order to prevent communicable diseases among human beings, the Regulations require medical practitioners to notify the Director of Health of the existence of any of the infectious diseases specified in the First Schedule to the Ordinance in a form as prescribed in the Schedule to the Regulations. The effect of these Orders is to make such notification requirement apply to "chickenpox" so that the Department of Health could monitor the occurrence and complication of the disease and assess the impact on local disease pattern of the "chickenpox" vaccination. The vaccination was licensed in Hong Kong in 1996 and has since been used by private doctors to vaccinate children.

According to the LegCo Brief (Ref : HWB/M/21/4/Pt.2) dated 13 November 1998 issued by the Health and Welfare Bureau, the amendments have the support of the Advisory Committee on Immunisation which comprises members of the medical profession from public and private sectors.

These two Orders will come into operation on 1 February 1999. This, according to the Administration, will allow sufficient time for medical practitioners to be familiar with the new requirement.

Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Cap. 134)
Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 1998 (L. N. 348)

This Order amends the First Schedule to the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Cap. 134) by adding 5 substances to Part I of the Schedule and repealing 8 substances from Part IV of the Schedule. Members may refer to the LegCo Brief (Ref: NCR 2/1/8 XV) dated 11 November 1998 issued by the Security Bureau for the details of those substances and background of the Order.

The effect of the Order is that the 5 substances added to Part I of the Schedule can only be sold at authorized sellers of poisons (i.e. dispensaries) under the supervision of a pharmacist and with a registered medical practitioner's prescription. Further, pharmaceutical preparations containing not more than 0.1 per cent of any of the 8 substances deleted from Part IV of the First Schedule will automatically fall into Part II of the Schedule. This would mean that those 8 substances will be subject to more tightened control in that they can only be sold at authorized sellers of poisons under the supervision of a pharmacist.

This Order will come into operation on 1 April 1999. This, according to the Administration, will allow the trade sufficient time to make the necessary preparations for the tightening of control over the supply of the substances in question.

According to the LegCo Brief, the Action Committee Against Narcotics and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board have been consulted. The former expressed full support while the latter had no objection to the proposal.

Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)
Food Business (Regional Council) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bylaw 1998 (L.N. 349)

This Bylaw amends the Food Business (Regional Council) Bylaw (Cap. 132 sub. leg.) by extending the provisional licence system for restaurants to other food businesses, namely, any food factory, not being a milk factory or a frozen confection factory; any factory canteen; any siu mei or lo mei shop; any fresh provision shop or any cold store.

The effect of this Bylaw is that the Regional Council may grant a provisional licence permitting the carrying on of any of the above food businesses in any premises where the premises satisfies certain sanitary and fire safety requirements and the holder of such licence may commence business pending the issue of a full licence. Such provisional licence is valid for a period of 6 months and may be renewed on only one occasion for a period of 6 months.

Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)
Frozen Confections (Regional Council) (Amendment) Bylaw 1998 (L.N. 350)

Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)
Milk (Regional Council) (Amendment) Bylaw 1998 (L.N. 351)

These two Bylaws introduce a new provisional licence system for frozen confection factories and milk factories respectively. The new system is modelled on the system adopted for food businesses under the Food Business (Regional Council) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bylaw 1998 (L.N. 349 of 1998).

The effect of these Bylaws is that the Regional Council may grant a provisional licence permitting any person to manufacture any frozen confection and permitting the carrying on of a business as a milk factory in any premises where the premises satisfies certain sanitary and fire safety requirements and the holder of such licence may commence business pending the issue of a full licence. Such provisional licence is valid for a period of 6 months and may be renewed on only one occasion for a period of 6 months.

The Legal Service Division has made enquiries with the Provisional Urban Council ("PUC"), which confirmed that the PUC will adopt the same policy as the Provisional Regional Council in the extension of the provisional licence system to other food businesses as reflected in L.N. 349 - L.N. 351. We understand that the amendment bylaws made by the Provisional Urban Council to implement this policy will be published in the Gazette on 20 November 1998.

Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Ordinance 1998
Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Ordinance 1998 (36 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 1998 (L. N. 352)

This Notice appoints 19 December 1998 as the day on which the Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Ordinance 1998 (36 of 1998) will come into operation.

The Amendment Ordinance amends the Fisheries Protection Ordinance (Cap. 171) to :

1. expand the regulation making power of the Chief Executive in Council to prohibit or restrict the use, for the purpose of fishing, of any apparatus of a class or description specified by the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries; and
   
   
2. increase the maximum fines for offences under the regulations made by the Chief Executive in Council.

Prepared by

Fung Sau-kuen, Connie
Assistant Legal Adviser
Legislative Council Secretariat
16 November 1998