A seafood hotpot restaurant and its staff member were fined $5,000 and $3,000 today (October 19) at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts for possessing defective weighing equipment and supplying short-weight seafood respectively, in contravention of the Weights and Measures Ordinance (WMO).
Customs officers earlier ordered one catty of clams at the restaurant located in San Po Kong.
Subsequent examination by the Government Laboratory confirmed that the clams were short of weight by 5.39 taels and the spring scale used for weighing was offset by 2 taels while it was unloaded.
Under the WMO, any person who uses for trade, or has in his possession for use for trade, any weighing or measuring equipment which is false or defective commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $20,000. In addition, any person who in the course of trade supplies goods to another person by weight or measure should supply the goods in net weight or net measure. Any shortage of the quantity purporting to be supplied is an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $10,000.
Customs will continue to take stringent enforcement action against short-weight activities at restaurants to protect consumers' interests and uphold a fair trading environment.
Members of the public may report any suspected violations of the WMO to the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
Ends/Friday, October 19, 2018