Hong Kong authorities have warned restaurants, entertainment premises, and other businesses that they could lose their licences if they engage in acts deemed “contrary” to national security.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) sent letters to businesses at the end of May about new national security-related clauses under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, according to local media reports.
The letter states that if business licence holders and “related persons” engage in “offending conduct” against national security or public interest, authorities could revoke their licence.
“Related persons” include directors, management, employees, agents, and subcontractors, the letter read.
One restaurant owner told HKFP on Monday that both of his eateries received the FEHD’s letter, postmarked Thursday, May 30.
According to the letter, the new conditions are made to “effectively prevent any act or activity that is illegal or prejudicial to national security in licensed premises.”
The conditions will be effective next year when the restaurant licences are renewed, it added.
In response to media enquiries, the FEHD said the conditions were aimed at deterring behaviour contrary to national security, and that licence holders who abide by the law would not be affected.
According to an updated version of the FEHD’s food business licence application form dated May 2025, applicants have to sign beneath a paragraph that reads: “I shall ensure that no act or activity engaged or involved in by me or any of my related persons… may constitute or cause the occurrence of an offence endangering national security under the National Security Law or other laws of the HKSAR, or conduct [that] is otherwise contrary to the interests of national security or the interest of the public (including public morals, public order and/or public safety) of Hong Kong.”
A July 2024 version of the form contained no such paragraph.
Local media outlets reported that, besides restaurants, businesses holding other types of licences – including cinemas, gaming centres, funeral parlours, and saunas also saw the same national security conditions.
HKFP has reached out to the FEHD for comment.
Government adviser Ronny Tong told HK01 in an interview published on Sunday that it was “hard to say” if the new conditions were targeted at “yellow shops,” a term that refers to businesses that have expressed a pro-democracy stance.
See also: Hong Kong’s pro-democracy businesses tread carefully as ‘yellow economy’ reels from reported arrests
When asked if the phrase “Hong Kong add oil” could be risky, Tong said he could not give a blanket answer.
“If it is just a saying, or a description, or an icon… I think you need to consider the wider environment and what the intention is,” he said.
