Auction for Fong Ma Po New Year Fair stalls at Lam Tsuen in Tai Po to be held on November 4
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     ​The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) announced today (October 22) that stalls at the 2025 Fong Ma Po (FMP) New Year Fair at Lam Tsuen in Tai Po will be put up for open auction on November 4 (Monday).
     ​A spokesman for the FEHD said the annual FMP New Year Fair will be held for 15 consecutive days from January 29 to February 12, 2025. A total of 22 dry goods stalls and six wet goods stalls will be put up for auction, with upset prices of $780 and $770 respectively. ​
   The auction will be held at the Assembly Hall, 2/F, Lai Chi Kok Government Offices, 19 Lai Wan Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, on November 4 (Monday), from 2pm until completion of the auction.
     Bidders for FMP New Year Fair stalls must be at least 18 years old and ordinarily reside in Hong Kong. Anyone can bid for more than one stall. A bidder must pay the bid price and register in person with his or her own name as the licensee of the stall immediately after successfully bidding for a stall. The bidder is also required to sign at once a licence agreement with the FEHD, or he/she will forfeit the rights to operate the stall.
     ​The FMP New Year Fair site will be made available to the licensees three days in advance of the fair (January 26 to 28, 2025) for the setting up of stalls. In the event of any unforeseeable incident that will cause shortening of the whole licence period (including the duration for setting up stalls and the business period of the fair), the Government has the right to postpone the commencement date and shorten the duration of the period. The bidding price (licence fee) paid will be refunded to the successful bidder on a pro-rata basis without interest.
     The FEHD reminded licensees that the stalls are solely for the purpose of selling and promoting the sale of the permitted commodities, and no other activities are allowed in the licensed area. If the FEHD considers that any activity conducted by the licensee to publicise, promote, display, show, sell or gift any permitted commodities in the venue is unlawful, contrary to the interest of national security, immoral or incompatible with the object of the FMP New Year Fair, the FEHD is entitled to direct the licensee to stop conducting such activities, and the licensee must immediately comply with the direction.
     Stall licensees should not destroy, damage or abandon any unsold commodities at or in the vicinity of the stall. They must completely remove the stall structure and all paraphernalia, together with all refuse, debris and unsold commodities (whether damaged or otherwise) from the licensed area before 6pm on February 12, 2025.
     According to the licence agreement, except inside designated stalls, licensees shall not keep, store or use any compressed helium cylinders in the licenced area. Whereas licensees of the designated stalls may keep, store or use helium cylinders in the licenced area, the quantity of helium should be such that a licence is not required pursuant to the Dangerous Goods (Application and Exemption) Regulation 2012 (Cap. 295E), i.e. no more than 150 litres (water capacity) of compressed helium. Sales of floating LED glowing balloons and aquarium fish by stall licensees are prohibited at the FMP Fair.
     In addition, as stated in the licence agreement, the height of dry goods stalls must not exceed 3 metres from ground level. The height of wet goods stalls must not exceed 4.5m from ground level. For wet goods stalls with a height of more than 3m from ground level, the licensee must, at his own costs, provide the FEHD with the original certificate issued by an authorised person, a registered structural engineer, or a competent person under the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations (Cap. 59I) to certify the structural safety of the structure in the licensed area before the Fair is opened to the public. The licensee must also affix a copy of the aforesaid certificate on the structure of the stall.
     ​Successful bidders shall comply with all the stipulations and provisions as set out in the licence agreement. Otherwise, the FEHD is entitled to terminate the agreement and the licensee shall immediately vacate the stall.
     ​Details of the 2025 FMP New Year Fair, such as the public notice, the location and layout of the fair venue, commodities allowed for sale at the fair stalls, open auction arrangements and related rules, as well as a sample of the licence agreement, are available on the FEHD website (www.fehd.gov.hk). For enquiries, please call the FEHD’s Tai Po District Environmental Hygiene Office at 3183 9162 or 2657 1137.
