The Tobacco & Alcohol Control Office (TACO) announced today that its frontline officers will use smart tools for issuing fixed penalty notices (FPNs) from Thursday, to streamline procedures, improve data accuracy and enhance enforcement efficiency.

Frontline TACO officers are empowered to enforce the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance, which includes taking prosecution actions against individuals who smoke in statutory no-smoking areas or on public transport carriers.

Currently, they need to manually fill in offenders' personal details on printed FPNs during enforcement. Staff in the back office then check the information and input it into the backend system.

From Thursday onwards, TACO officers can scan offenders' Hong Kong identity cards with an electronic system, which will instantly import the offenders’ personal details such as their name and identity cards number into the FPN. The system will also automatically record the time, location and details of the enforcement officers.

Officers will print the FPNs on the spot with portable printers and issue them to the offenders. The data will be automatically synchronised with the backend system, saving processing time and manpower needs in the back office.

Neither TACO officers nor the relevant mobile application will store images of the offenders' identity cards. The personal data collected will remain the same as that recorded manually.

The Director of Health, empowered under the aforesaid ordinance, has specified the formats for both handwritten and mobile-printed FPNs.

While the two versions of FPNs differ slightly in format, their content is identical and carry the same legal effect. Offenders may still be issued handwritten FPNs by TACO or other law enforcement departments.