Government terminates bottled water contract, temporarily replaced by AS Watson Group for Hong Kong offices.

Partial termination of a contract for bottled drinking water for government offices

The Government Logistics Department (GLD) stated that it had partially terminated a contract for the supply of bottled drinking water to government offices on Hong Kong Island and parts of the outlying islands starting from today (August 16).

In June this year, the GLD awarded the contract to Xin Ding Xin Trade Co., Limited (XDX). According to the contract, XDX is to supply bottled drinking water, branded "XinLe" and manufactured by 樂百氏（廣東）飲用水有限公司廣州分公司 (available in Chinese only), to government offices on Hong Kong Island and parts of the outlying islands starting from late June this year for a period of 36 months.

Having received information on XDX's business operation recently, the GLD was not satisfied that XDX would still be capable of performing the contract, and decided to partially terminate the said contract starting from today (August 16) in accordance with contract terms. The GLD will follow up seriously and take follow-up action including whether to terminate the contract. The GLD has also referred the case to Police for investigation.

To ensure the supply of drinking water, the GLD has arranged for AS Watson Group (HK) Limited to supply bottled drinking water temporarily, branded "COOL" and manufactured by the company, to government offices on Hong Kong Island and parts of the outlying islands starting from next week.

The GLD has been monitoring contractual performance of the suppliers of bottled drinking water for government offices, with a view to ensuring stable supply of bottled drinking water in compliance with stipulated technical specifications according to contract terms and ensuring the safety of drinking water. Suppliers are required to submit test reports issued by independent accredited laboratories every two months to prove that the drinking water provided by them complies with the requirements under the technical specifications. The GLD also extracts samples of drinking water for testing from time to time throughout the contract period. In this regard, the GLD has earlier conducted a test of bottled drinking water samples in government offices, which confirmed that the bottled drinking water from all suppliers complied with the safety standards for bottled drinking water.

Following the expiry of the original contracts, the GLD conducted an open tender in March this year to select suitable suppliers of bottled drinking water for government departments. As regards the three successful tenderers and the brands of drinking water to be supplied pursuant to their tenders, the information is set out as follows:

Company name

Brand

Region of government offices for supply

Manufacturer

Xin Ding Xin Trade Co., Limited

XinLe

Hong Kong Island and parts of the outlying islands

樂百氏（廣東）飲用水有限公司廣州分公司

(available in Chinese only)

AS Watson Group (HK) Limited

COOL

Kowloon

AS Watson Group (HK) Limited

Professional Trade International Limited

Happy

New Territories and part of Lantau Island

Dongguan Dongwa Drinking Water Co., Limited

Source: AI-found images

Hong Kong Customs raids two suspected illicit cigarette storage centres in Fanling

Hong Kong Customs raided two suspected illicit cigarette storage centres in Fanling and seized more than 8.8 million suspected illicit cigarettes yesterday (April 9). The total estimated market value of the suspected illicit cigarettes was about $39.7 million, while the duty potential was about $29.1 million. One man suspected to be in connection with the case was arrested.

Customs officers ambushed and searched two logistics warehouses at Ping Che Road in Fanling and a medium goods vehicle parked inside one of the warehouses at noon yesterday. Customs seized the batch of suspected illicit cigarettes from the two warehouses and the vehicle. A 43-year-old man, who claimed to be a warehouse worker and was suspected to be connected with the case, was arrested at the scene.

Initial investigation revealed that a crime syndicate had repacked illicit cigarettes as genuine cargo pending transshipment in the warehouses, awaiting an opportunity to smuggle them into foreign countries or regions with higher tobacco duty rates than Hong Kong for profit.

The case is still under investigation. Customs will continue to trace the source and flow of the illicit cigarettes. The likelihood of further arrests is not ruled out.

Customs will continue its risk assessment and intelligence analysis for interception at source, as well as through its multipronged enforcement strategy targeting storage, distribution and peddling to spare no effort in combating illicit cigarette activities.

Customs stresses that it is an offence to buy or sell illicit cigarettes. Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (Cap. 109), any person who deals with, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

Smuggling is also a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance (Cap. 60), any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account(crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

Hong Kong Customs raids two suspected illicit cigarette storage centres in Fanling Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Hong Kong Customs raids two suspected illicit cigarette storage centres in Fanling Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases