Press Releases

Undesirable Medical Advertisements (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2004 gazetted

        The Undesirable Medical Advertisements (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2004, which seeks to provide legislative backing to prohibit/restrict selected undesirable claims, will be introduced into the Legislative Council (Legco) for vetting on October 13, 2004.

        "The bill was first introduced into the Legco on February 11 but was not scrutinised due to limited time available in the last legislative session," a spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said upon the gazettal of the bill today (October 8).

        "Pursuant to section 9(4) of the Legislative Council Ordinance, the consideration of bill is to lapse at the end of the term of the Legislative Council.

        "We have therefore arranged to reintroduce the bill in the new legislative session at the earliest possible time so that irresponsible claims of the so-called 'health food' products can be brought under control to safeguard public health," the spokesman said.

        The bill proposes to add a new Schedule 4 to the Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance (UMAO) to bring six additional groups of claims under its regulation.

        It also proposes to apply the prohibition/restriction on advertising of claims specified in Schedule 4 to all orally consumed products, except those customarily consumed as food or drink.

        Schedule 4 of the bill sets out six groups of prohibited/restricted claims, which are subject to two levels of restriction based on the risk-based approach.

        The first level of restriction will apply to the most risky claims, namely the claims relating to the prevention, elimination or treatment of breast lumps; the regulation of function of the genitourinary system; and the regulation of the endocrine system.

        The second level of restriction is applicable to three other types of claims: regulation of body sugar or glucose and/or alteration of functions of pancreas; regulation of blood pressure; and regulation of blood lipid or cholesterol.

        The "health food" industry will be given a grace period of at least 18 months to make changes and prepare to comply with the new requirements upon the enactment of the new schedule of prohibited claims.

        The bill also proposes to increase the penalty for contravention of the UMAO from $10,000 to $50,000 and imprisonment for six months for a first offence, and from $25,000 and imprisonment for one year to $100,000 and imprisonment for one year for a repeat offence.

        Apart from the fine-tuning of drafting, the bill is the same in substance as the previous one introduced into the Legco early this year.

Ends/Friday, October 8, 2004

NNNN