政壇：睇社論學英文：正常營商當賊辦 海關扼殺水貨車

近日海關以打擊水貨車行懷疑違反《汽車（首次登記稅）條例》為名，成立一隊逾百人的專責小組，不但派員到多間水貨車行搜集資料，更聯絡買家協助調查，猶如「好人當賊辦」，做法豈止擾民，更損害業界正常經營。

香港水貨車由來已久，促進了汽車銷售業的良性競爭，符合港府當年開放水貨車進口的原意。只要水貨車行呈交完備資料，符合當局規定的進口程序，就是正常營商行為，無理由受到執法部門刁難。海關的調查手法，就像醫生診症，未有對病者做好望聞問切，找出病源之前，胡亂開刀，藥石亂投，真是豈有此理。

海關調查手法以偏概全，買家亦成為調查對象，須詳細交代交易細節，以至個人資金來源，形同侵犯個人私隱，令買家誤以為自己觸犯法紀。海關變相阻嚇消費者光顧水貨車行，令業界在年尾旺季生意大受打擊，隨時導致大批從業員失業。

水貨業是香港的正常營商活動，不獨水貨車，電子產品和不少民生日用品也已發展了水貨行銷渠道，海關對其他水貨活動網開一面，單單針對水貨車業者，必惹起選擇性執法的質疑。天下本無事，庸人自擾之，港府施政混亂，執法毫無準則，才是問題的癥結。

The Customs has stifled the parallel importation of motor vehicles by treating legitimate businessmen as swindlers

Claiming that dealers of parallelly imported vehicles might have violated the Motor Vehicles (First Registration Tax) Ordinance, the Customs and Excise Department (the Customs) has recently set up a task force with over 100 members to handle the issue. The task force does not only collect information from car dealers, but even contacts buyers for assistance in investigation. This act of treating law-abiding people as if they were racketeers is a public nuisance, and jeopardises the normal operation of the trade.

The parallel importation of motor vehicles into Hong Kong has been in place for a long time and has enhanced benign competition in the car-dealing industry. This is in line with the Hong Kong Government's original intention of opening up the market of parallelly imported vehicles. As long as the car dealers are able to submit full sets of documents and comply with the stipulated import procedures, they are just doing regular business and the Government should not make things difficult for them. It is preposterous that the Customs' manner of investigation resembles that of an incompetent doctor: before carefully examining the patient and properly diagnosing, he already operates indiscriminately on the patient and makes random prescriptions.

When the Customs carries out investigations, buyers also become its target and are required to explain the transaction details, including even the source of their personal funds. This is tantamount to infringing on privacy and buyers would be misled into believing they have broken the law. Unintentionally, the Customs has deterred consumers from patronising dealers of parallelly imported vehicles. As the year-end is customarily a peak season for the industry, the Customs' move may cost the jobs of many car salesmen.

Parallel importation is a normal business activity in Hong Kong. Not only vehicles are imported parallelly, many electronic goods and daily supplies also find their ways into the city through such channels. By being lenient towards other trades and targeting only parallelly imported vehicles, the Customs may arouse the suspicion that it enforces the law selectively. In fact, the cruxes of the problem are the Government's making much ado about nothing, chaotic governance and arbitrary law-enforcement.

重要生字

make much ado about nothing 庸人自擾

chaotic governance 施政混亂

arbitrary law-enforcement 執法毫無準則