A wider community consensus will be needed before the Government considers regulating external lighting nuisance through legislation.
Secretary for the Environment KS Wong made the statement to reporters today in response to concerns over a department store's erection of a giant external LED screen.
Mr Wong said the Environment Bureau is liaising with the department store, which has pledged to turn off the screen by 11pm each night.
Mr Wong said the Government's major concern about light pollution is disturbance to people's sleeping quality, adding it has consulted stakeholders in recent years on ways to deal with the issue, such as implementing the Guidelines on Industry Best Practices for External Lighting Installations and the Charter on External Lighting that encourages organisations to minimise light nuisance.
"The response was mixed. Whether we should step up mandatory control was not widely supported at the time. That is why we tried different means, including the guidelines and the charter to mitigate most of the issues."
He said the Government will follow up on complaints, adding most companies and organisations have improved their lighting issues.
"So to some extent, the current measures could offer certain improvement."
He said the Government is monitoring the progress made since the introduction of the guidelines and the charter.
“We are monitoring the situation, and we will review what should be further followed up in the coming years.
"We would like to have a wider community consensus if we are going to consider the mandatory means."
