Hong Kong Ordinances

MEDICAL REGISTRATION ORDINANCE - SECT 20B

Recovery of practising fees

(1) If any registered medical practitioner contravenes subsection

(1) of section 20A, the amount of the prescribed fee payable by him under
subsection (2) of that section shall be recoverable as a civil debt by
complaint made in the name of the Registrar to a magistrate.

(2) A summons issued in relation to the recovery of the prescribed fee for the
issue of a practising certificate under this section may, notwithstanding
section 8(2) of the Magistrates Ordinance ( Cap 227), be served by sending it
by post to the medical practitioner concerned at his last known address; and a
certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Registrar shall,
until the contrary is proved, be evidence of service of the summons.

(3) If in any proceedings under this section-

   (a)  the medical practitioner concerned does not appear before a magistrate
        at the time and place specified in the summons; and

   (b)  service of the summons under subsection (2) is proved, the magistrate
        shall, if he is satisfied that the practitioner has been given an
        adequate period of notice of the proceedings, proceed to deal with the
        complaint as if the practitioner had appeared.

(4) In any proceedings under this section a certificate purporting to be under
the hand of the Registrar to the effect that the medical practitioner
concerned had not paid the prescribed fee for the issue of a
practising certificate shall, until the contrary is proved, be evidence of
non-payment of the fee.

(5) If the magistrate makes an order requiring the medical practitioner to pay
the prescribed fee for the issue of a practising  certificate, he shall at the
same time make an order requiring the medical practitioner to pay an
additional amount by way of surcharge at the rate of treble the amount of the
said prescribed fee.

(6) For the purposes of section 51 of the Magistrates Ordinance ( Cap 227) any
fee and surcharge which a medical practitioner is liable to pay under this
section shall be deemed to be a sum of money required to be paid under an
order by a magistrate.

(7) On recovery from a medical practitioner of a prescribed fee under this
section, together with the surcharge ordered to be paid under subsection (5),
the Registrar shall, if the medical practitioner's name appears on the
General Register, issue the medical practitioner with the appropriate
practising certificate. (Amended 34 of 1995 s. 15; 7 of 1996 s. 17) (Added 70
of 1975 s. 7)