Hong Kong immigration department has a list of suspected parallel-goods traders: director
Immigration chief addresses low conviction rate and concerns over technology being used in new ID cards at year-end media briefing
The Immigration Department insists it is winning the fight against parallel-goods trading despite a low conviction rate, arguing it has a list of 13,000 mainlanders that it is closely monitoring and who may be refused entry into Hong Kong.
Speaking at an annual review press briefing on Thursday, immigration director Eric Chan Kwok-ki said about 25,000 mainlanders suspected of being parallel-goods traders were denied entry to Hong Kong last year - almost double the 2013 figure of 12,800.
But among the 1,735 mainlanders arrested last year for breaching their conditions of stay by engaging in parallel-goods trading activities, only 200 have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from four weeks to three months.
Some 14 locals were also arrested for employing illegal workers in 155 operations against parallel trading undertaken in 2014. These compare with 1,065 mainlanders and 12 of their local employers being arrested in 2013.
Mainlanders who are convicted face being barred from entering Hong Kong for two years.
"[A conviction prevents a person from further] engaging in parallel trading in Hong Kong," Chan said. "We will put the person on our monitor list if we have evidence that he or she is [a parallel-goods trader]. There is a good chance that person will be denied entry the next time he or she visits Hong Kong."
Asked how immigration officers tell parallel-goods traders from shoppers, Chan said: "We are professionally trained; we can tell the difference.
"[Parallel-goods traders] often don't know what they've bought or the reasons for buying these goods … and the quantities [bought] are different [from that of genuine shoppers]."
The number of visits, whether such people were arrested in parallel-goods trading hotspots and whether the visitors can give a satisfactory answer when asked the purpose of their visit are all factors the department considers when deciding whether to include someone on the list.
The department plans to hire 60 immigration assistants this year, on top of 25 immigration officers recruited last year.
Chan also addressed concerns over the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in new Hong Kong ID cards, following local media reports that a card reader sold on the mainland could be used to steal personal information from just a few metres away. He said this would be impossible as the new cards will use a newer generation of RFID technology, which is different from that used on the mainland and in Macau.
Chan said the department would seek the privacy commissioner's advice and approval at every stage before the formal introduction of the new generation of identity cards, which the government now hopes to launch in 2018.
