Discrepancy in law prompts city to suspend enforcement in parks and leisure sites of no-smoking laws and other legislation
- A difference between Chinese and English versions of relevant laws means paperwork is not currently in order to enforce them
- Municipal staff will provisionally confine themselves to verbally advising citizens against prohibited behaviour rather than fining them
Law enforcement actions against smoking and other illegal activities in about 450 public parks and leisure sites in Hong Kong have been suspended as officials seek legal advice on discrepancies between the Chinese and English versions of the relevant laws.
For now, staff from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will confine themselves to verbally advising citizens against certain behaviour in the facilities, including smoking, removal of plants, walking on grass, and hawking merchandise on beaches.
According to the department, the Chinese version of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance requires the government to deposit plans outlining the boundaries of public pleasure grounds with the Land Registry for certain law enforcement actions to take place.
But the English version of the law only states that the plans “may” be deposited with the Land Registry.
The department confirmed on Monday that it has not made the deposits for about 450 public pleasure grounds – about a quarter of the city’s facilities – and thus have suspended law enforcement actions listed in four other laws affected by the discrepancies.
The four laws affected are the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance, the Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Ordinance, the Pleasure Grounds Regulation and the Bathing Beaches Regulation.
The 450 facilities include Quarry Bay Park, Fuk Man Garden in Sai Kung, and Tolo Harbour Garden.