The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department will open the application-tracking facility up to 12 food-related licences by February, the Business Facilitation Advisory Committee has heard.

At today's meeting, the committee learned the Government's Be the Smart Regulator Programme is making good progress and well received by the trade.

It was launched in late 2006 to improve the licensing processes and business environment, aiming to cut compliance costs to the business sectors. Eight business-liaison groups have been set up to facilitate mutual communication between the trades and the Government and help resolve regulatory and licensing issues. Of the 271 regulatory and licensing issues the trade has raised, 159 have been addressed and resolved.

Business facilitation

The Food & Environmental Hygiene and Home Affairs Departments have assigned business-facilitation officers to scrutinise the licensing procedures and recommend improvements.

On the work of various business-facilitation task forces, the Pre-construction Task Force will form a working group with representatives from the Lands Department, the Real Estate Developers Association and the Institute of Surveyors to examine the existing premium valuation process and recommend improvement measures to speed up the implementation of development projects.

The Food Business Task Force will review food-factory licences and the transfer of food-related licences with a view to removing unnecessary regulatory controls and streamlining the transfer process.

Meanwhile, the Retail Task Force is facilitating communication between the Department of Health and the trade in addressing issues in connection with the regulatory control of proprietary Chinese medicine. It is also discussing the most effective way to introduce the proposed nutrition-labelling scheme.

Quality education

On the American Chamber of Commerce's final report on international schools' expansion efforts in Hong Kong, the committee agreed that the city should optimise available resources to provide quality education to the whole community.

Noting the development of a vibrant international school sector and the provision of sufficient international school places are critical to attracting foreign investment and strengthening Hong Kong's position as a world city, the committee suggested the Government consider ways to improve the efficiency and transparency of the various government processes related to school expansion projects.