A police hotline is to be set up for members of the public to report cases of child pornography when a long-awaited law targeting paedophiles comes into effect.
Security officials told legislators yesterday about plans for the hotline as they discussed the Prevention of Child Pornography Bill, which will criminalise the making, publishing, distribution, advertising and possession of child pornography.
Anti-child-abuse campaigners called for the passage of the bill to be sped up after the Sunday Morning Post last month reported suspects in Hong Kong had been identified in a global investigation into child pornography.
The bill, which was introduced in 1999, has been held up by arguments over the definition of possession of child pornography, as well as by a glut of other bills coming before legislators.
Bill committee member Audrey Eu Yuet-mee yesterday said that while child pornography was a serious concern, stringent scrutiny of the bill was necessary.
Legislators last month criticised the original proposals designed to target possession as too strict, particularly in relation to unsolicited obscene e-mails. They required a person to destroy such images of child pornography within a reasonable time.