The Government will table the Fire Services (Amendment) Bill 2016 at the Legislative Council on November 30 to give effect to the Registered Fire Engineer Scheme.
The Security Bureau said a bill was tabled at LegCo last December. After detailed scrutiny, the Bills Committee raised no objection to the Government's plan to resume the Second Reading debate.
However, the Second Reading debate of the 2015 bill could not be resumed before the council’s prorogation so the bill automatically lapsed.
Given the general support for the scheme, the Government will introduce the 2016 bill, which is similar to the 2015 bill but incorporates the Committee Stage Amendments to the 2015 bill as agreed by the Government and the Bills Committee.
Currently, a person who intends to run specified types of premises has to obtain a certificate or letter issued by the Fire Services Department, certifying that the premises have complied with all fire safety requirements.
Under the proposed scheme, qualified personnel can register with the department to provide fire safety certification services.
If the bill is passed, the Government will make subsidiary legislation setting out the implementation details of the scheme as soon as practicable.
