The Government today (April 12) published in the Gazette the Entertainment Special Effects (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 2019. The Amendment proposes to adjust upward the licence and permit fees under the Entertainment Special Effects (Fees) Regulation (Cap. 560B) by 11.1 per cent to 14.4 per cent.
Subject to the approval of the Legislative Council through the negative vetting procedure, the proposed new fees will take effect on July 1, 2019.
A spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said that the existing fees have been in force since May 2013. The proposed fees adjustment was in response to inflation and increases in associated costs since 2013.
"Under the proposed fees revision, the increase in fees for permits is in the order of tens of dollars; whereas for licences, in over 90 per cent of the items the increase in fees is less than $225. It is expected that the proposed fees revision will have negligible impact on business operating costs of the film and entertainment sectors concerned.
"In accordance with the 'user pays' principle, it is the Government's policy that fees charged by the Government for various services should in general be set at levels sufficient to recover the full cost of providing the services. The proposed fees revision is in line with relevant policy," the spokesman said.