A sudden change to laws regulating the proprietary Chinese medicine (pCm) industry in Hong Kong could render nearly one-third of local pCm products illegal and turn unwitting users into criminals.

Representatives of the pCm industry issued a joint call in Hong Kong on Thursday, urging authorities to postpone the activation date of the new regulation on pCm registration, though the government said it would not delay the implementation.

The Food and Health Bureau of Hong Kong made an unexpected announcement on Nov 27 that all unregistered pCm will be forbidden in Hong Kong from Dec 3.

After that date, anyone who sells, imports or possesses unregistered pCm will be fined a maximum of HK$100,000 ($12,870) or be sentenced to two years' jail.

"With no adequate publicity and implementation guidelines provided beforehand, the sudden change left local practitioners, manufacturers and even residents at high risk of inadvertently violating the law," said Yu Kowk-wai, chairman of Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Practitioners' Rights General Union.

As on the mainland, pCm is commonly used in Hong Kong where every family has at least two or three pCm products at home, he said.

However, Yu warned that many unwitting families will "become criminals by default", once the new regulation comes into effect.

Yu said that the new regulation could also damage the pCm market on the Chinese mainland because it will make it illegal to buy pCm that are registered on the mainland but not registered in Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong people have a habit of purchasing famous local pCm when they visit mainland cities. However, the risk of being caught at customs in possession of pCm not registered in Hong Kong will make mainland pCm less attractive to Hong Kong residents," said Yu.

As well, mainlanders should be cautious about buying Hong Kong-produced pCm as souvenirs.

A spokesman for the Department of Health of Hong Kong told China Daily on Nov 30 that the list of unregistered pCm includes some famous local pCms, which are also popular with mainland customers.

Official statistics showed that by the end of October, the Chinese Medicines Board had rejected one-third of 16,703 pCm registration applications in Hong Kong because they had not been tested for the presence of heavy metals, toxic elements and pesticide residues.

Yu said that number was unreasonably high compared with the mainland, as most of Hong Kong's Chinese medicine regulators are Western medicine doctors.

"That is absolutely inappropriate," he said.

A similar problem also affected the trade in traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) on the mainland, said Huang Jianyin, deputy secretary-general with the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, a Beijing-based non-governmental organization.

"Due to heavy metal toxicity, pesticide and aflatoxin residue, traditional Chinese medicines, particularly tisane, cannot meet the European Union standard for export," Huang told China Daily.

Huang urged the TCM industry to improve product quality to meet the required standard.