origin are protected by appropriate legislation, including
heavy penalties for offences. The importance of this system
is attested by the fact that 80 per cent of all Hong Kong
exports are now of domestic origin and 20 per cent only are
re-exports; and the high standards and effectiveness of Hong
Kong certificates
or
origin have been acknowledged by her
major trading partners, all of whom accept these certificates
without any requirement for consular endorsement.
5. The very rigorous system involved in issuing the
certificates, including the provisions for inspection and
the legal protection and penalties, is sufficient in itself
to guarantee their validity and the single process of
endorsement by the Italian Consulate-General cannot, in
practice, add any further guarantee to the very rigorous
system applied in Hong Kong Full details of the Hong Kong
certification of origin system are, in any case, always'
available to the Italian Consulate-General, who can have
direct access to any part of this system at any time. The
Hong Kong Government would welcome any inspections into, or
further consultations on, their certificate of origin system
which the Italian Government might consider necessary.
6. It might also be noted that the Contracting Parties to
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade have for a number
of years been pressing for the abolition of unnecessary
consular formalities and fees.
Article VIII of the GATT also
provides that consular fees and charges, where they exist,
should be limited in amount to the approximate cost of the
services rendered. The imposition of a sliding scale of fees
is difficult to reconcile with these provisions. Furthermore,
the charging
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