(Policy Address 2025) HK slashes red tape for restaurants, backs local food brand

Chief Executive John Lee has unveiled policies to stimulate local economic vitality, with a significant focus on empowering the food and beverage sector and developing a robust future for the city's agriculture and fisheries industries.

One of the measures is the streamlining of bureaucratic processes for restaurants. The government will build on the successful "licence first, inspection later" model for provisional licenses by introducing a new, proactive approach for approving Outside Seating Accommodation (OSA).

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will now coordinate "joint-vetting" sessions with relevant departments to resolve applications collectively. For complex cases, the process will be escalated to the relevant Permanent Secretary or even the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration to ensure timely resolution.

Further simplifying OSA approvals, the government will standardise rent charges, remove the requirement for increased kitchen and bathroom facilities in some cases, and automatically approve applications that leave a clear walkway of three metres or more, eliminating the need for individual traffic assessments.

Looking beyond individual restaurants, the Policy Address lays out a vision to develop the entire "Food from Hong Kong" brand, renowned for its good reputation.

Land has been reserved near the Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point to promote food wholesale, processing, and trading, with the long-term goal of developing a food industrial park that integrates "food production + tourism."

To strengthen local produce, the government will introduce a unified brand for local agricultural and fisheries products by mid-2026 to enhance awareness and brand value.

Substantial support is also pledged for the primary industries.

To unlock the potential of the marine economy, the government will issue new fish culture zone licenses and provide deep-sea cages for rental, aiming to increase local mariculture production tenfold within 15 years through modernized aquaculture.

On land, the government will facilitate the construction of the city's first environmentally-friendly, multi-storey pig farm in Lo Wu. The development of Agricultural Park Phase 2 will also be taken forward, alongside initiatives to promote leisure farming and fisheries, creating new economic opportunities for these traditional sectors.