2. HONG KONG HAS IN THE MEANTIME COME UP WITH A FURTHER LIST OF EXPORT CERTIFICATE CANCELLATIONS AND ILE HAS ISSUED FURTHER IMPORT LICENCES AS AND WHEN UNUSED QUOTA HAS BEEN RE-CREDITED TO THE QUOTA RECORD. HOWEVER, THE STATE OF PLAY ON CATEGORY 5 AS OF TODAY IS THAT WHILE HONG KONG CLAIMS TO HAVE SHIPPED ONLY 12,100,001 PIECES AGAINST THE ENHANCED 1978 QUOTAX FIGURE OF 12,262,670 PIECES, ILB'S RECORD SHOWS THAT VALID IMPORT LICENCES, IN EACH CASE ISSUED AGAINST HONG KONG EXPORT CERTIFICATES, ARE IN THE HANDS OF IMPORTERS FOR A TOTAL QUANTITY OF 12,262,424 PIECES (IE THERE IS A BALANCE OF 246 PIECES, 215 OF WHICH WERE RE-CREDITED TO THE QUOTA RECORD TODAY) 1 BUT ILB HAS ON HAND IMPORT LICENCE APPLICATIONS, SUPPORTED BY HONG KONG EXPORT CERTIFICATES, FOR A FURTHER 170,120 PIECES AND THESE CANNOT BE ISSUED WITHOUT EXCEEDING THE QUOTA LEVEL.
3. A GREAT DEAL OF WORK HAS BEEN PUT INTO ATTEMPTING TO RECONCILE HONG KONG'S FIGURES OF EXPORT CERTIFICATES ISSUED, CANCELLATIONS AND SHORT-SHIPMENTS, WITH ILB'S RECORD OF IMPORT LICENCES ISSUED AND
RE-CREDITS BECAUSE OF NOTIFIED CANCELLATIONS AND SHORT-SHIPMENTS.
LAU TODAY PRESENTED US WITH A COMPUTER PRINT-OUT OF EXPORT
CERTIFICATES SHOWING THE AMOUNTS SHIPPED, AND THIS IS NOW BEING CHECKED AGAINST OUR RECC DS. IT IS A TIME-CONSUMING TASK AS
i
HONG KONG HAS APPARENTLY ISSUED ABOUT 5,000 EXPORT CERTIFICATES FOR CATEGORY 5 ALONE. WE HAD ALREADY CHECKED THEIR LISTS OF
CANCELLATIONS AND SHORT-SHIPMENTS TO RE-CREDIT WHERE WE WERE ABLE TO DO SO AND THE FOLLOWING SUMMARY OF THE RESULT MAY SERVE TO INDICATE THE PROBLEM OF RECONCILIATION: OF 96,287 PIECES ON CERTIFICATES NOTIFIED AS CANCELLED, THE CERTIFICATES HAD NOT BEEN PRESENTED (AND THEREFORE NO LICENCE HAD BEEN ISSUED) FOR 23:540 PIECES: WE WERE ABLE TO RE-CREDIT 45,688 PIECES: THE IMPORT LICENCES HAD BEEN FULLY USED FOR 8,569 PIECES AND WE HAVE BEEN UNABLE SO FAR
TO SECURE THE RETURN OF IMPORT LICENCES FOR 18,490 PIECES TO CONFIRM
THAT THEY HAD NOT BEEN USED FOR IMPORTS. AGAINST NOTIFIED SHORT- SHIPMENTS OF 107,909 PIECES WE HAVE RE-CREDITED THE QUOTA WITH 99,096 PIECES: IMPORT LICENCES HAVE BEEN FULLY USED FOR 3,750 PIECES 4,080 PIECES HAD ALREADY BEEN DEDUCTED FROM THE EXPORT CERTIFICATES
BEFORE THEY WERE SUBMITTED TO US, SO WE HAD NOT ISSUED THAT AMOUNT:
AND THERE IS AN ERROR IN HONG KONG'S RECORD OF 1,000 PIECES REGARDIN
THE AMOUNT ENTERED ON ONE EXPORT CERTIFICATE. THE MAXIMUM QUANTITY POTENTIALLY IN DISPUTE AS REGARDS THESE NOTIFICATIONS IS THEREFORE
30,909 PIECES (IE THE AMOUNTS FOR WHICH WE HAVE EXHAUSTED LICENCES ALTHOUGH HONG KONG SAYS THE COODS WERE NOT SHIPPED PLUS THE QUANTITY
ON LICENCES WE HAVE VOT HADETURNED) AND THIS WOULD NOT GO VERY FAR
IN DEALING WITH THE FURTHER APPLICATIONS WHICH ARE BEING HELD.