Press Releases
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Proposal to reduce animal trader licence fee The Government proposed to amend the Public Health (Animals and Birds)(Animal Traders) Regulations to reduce the annual licence fee for animal traders from $3,235 to $2,670. The proposal was gazetted today (May 17). According to the Regulations, any person who carries on business as an animal trader had to have a valid licence issued by the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, a spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said. "The level of the annual fee for an animal trader licence is based on a full cost recovery basis. Since AFCD have streamlined procedures and improved efficiency, recent costing review showed that there was room for cost reduction." "The average cost of processing an application for an animal trader licence has been reduced from $3,235 to $2,670. The annual licence fee as prescribed in the law should therefore be adjusted downwards accordingly," he said. At present, over 600 animal trader licences have been issued by AFCD. The proposed fee reduction is estimated to bring about an annual revenue loss of about $380,000. The proposal, outlined in the Public Health (Animals and Birds)(Animal Traders) (Amendment) Regulation 2002, will be tabled in the Legislative Council on May 22, 2002. The new licence fee, if endorsed by the Legislative Council, will come into effect from July 1, 2002. |
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