Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation (Cap. 599G)
Location Filming of Commercial Nature in Public Places (Update)

According to the Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation (Cap. 599G) (the Regulation), during the period specified by the Secretary for Food and Health, save for the exempted group gatherings specified in Schedule 1 to the Regulation, no group gathering (meaning a gathering of more than four persons¹) may take place in any public places.

Under Schedule 1 to the Regulation, one of the exempted group gatherings is “[g]roup gathering at a place of work for the purposes of work”. We have received enquiries from the trade about the practical arrangements for location filming of film, television, advertising, etc. pursuant to this provision.

First and foremost, we must emphasise that, as the COVID-19 epidemic remains severe, for protection of public health and the filming crews, location filming in public places should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Where a filming crew considers it of absolute necessity to conduct location filming involving a gathering of more than four persons, the company/responsible agent must first contact the Film Services Office (FSO) of Create Hong Kong, to provide the required information and justifications² for the FSO’s consideration in granting a “no-objection letter” to the filming crew for filming at the specified filming location(s). The filming crew should also have notified and obtained the necessary consent(s) from the relevant Government authorities (e.g. the Hong Kong Police and the Transport Department, etc.) before the location filming takes place.

In addition, the company/responsible agent shall guarantee that the filming crew undertake the following precautionary measures:

(1) All the filming crew members have to make and sign a declaration in respect of his/her health conditions, travel history, and any contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient;

(2) If any crew member has had travelled to any place outside Hong Kong or had any contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient in the past 14 days, he/she must not participate in the location filming and must undertake quarantine as per the prevailing Government policies;

(3) Before entering the filming location, all crew members must have had their body temperature checked and hands sanitised with alcohol;

(4) Any crew member has a body temperature higher than 37.5 degree Celsius must immediately stop working and go to a doctor;

(5) Except for the actors being filmed, all other crew members must wear surgical masks and work badges at all times;

(6) Actors must also wear surgical masks when not being filmed; and

(7) Exercise crowd control (e.g. to request the non-essential people and other members of the public to keep a distance from the filming location) at all times.

For location filming in non-public places (i.e. places with access restriction on the public, such as studios, indoor places, etc.), we recommend that the aforementioned precautionary measures be adopted also for the sake of protection of public health.

More information on prevention of COVID-19 can be found on the website³ of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health and the relevant guideline⁴.

For any enquiries, please call the FSO at 2594 5745 / 9389 3121 or email⁵ to the FSO.

1. https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202010/20/P2020102000807.htm
2. The required information and justifications include: (1) the necessity of conducting location filming involving more than four persons; (2) the number of crew members required for the location filming; (3) details of the public place(s) for location filming and the duration(s) of time required; (4) assessment of whether the public place(s) and timing(s) for the location filming would attract crowds; and if in the affirmative, assessment of whether the location filming at that place/time is necessary; and if in the affirmative, need to provide a practical crowd control proposal.
3. https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/resources/464/102466.html
4. https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/nid_guideline_workplace_eng.pdf
5. fso@createhk.gov.hk

21 October 2020