and will issue its interim report in early 1990.
The present policy is to avoid extending any new UK legislation to Hong Kong, whenever practical, to limit the burden of future 'localisation'. However, it will be two or three years before we are in a position to enact our localised copyright law. The Order, if extended to Hong Kong, would be considered along with other relevant legislation as part of the localisation of copyright laws exercise.
The Chinese will be consulted on localisation exercise in due course.
the
Recent Developments
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The Taiwanese Government announced recently that with effect from 7 August 1989, it would not accept registration of Hong Kong copyright works, because Hong Kong did not give reciprocal protection to the work of Taiwanese copyright
owners.
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Alarmed by the announcement, major local copyright interests
(the Anglo-Chinese Textbooks Publishers Organisation, Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd, TVB, ATV, the Composers and Authors Society of HK, Cinema City Enterprises, D & B Films Co and Golden Harvest (HK) Ltd) urged Government to ensure protection of their works in Taiwan. The estimated annual losses they could suffer otherwise are over HK $400 million per annum, indicating that there would be substantial benefit to Hong Kong in extending the Order.
The Order
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The Order (annexed) provided copyright protection in the U.K. to works, etc. first published in Taiwan by Chinese citizens resident or domiciled there. An extension of the Order to Hong Kong would grant Taiwanese works similar protection in Hong Kong and provide the reciprocity required for the Taiwanese authorities to grant registration of Hong Kong works.
China's Reaction
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We are not obliged to consult the Chinese on extending UK legislation to Hong Kong. Reciprocal provisions in the form of the Order and the relevant part of the Taiwan Copyright Act do not create new international rights and obligations. There is however a political case for informing the Chinese of our intentions where such legislation involves Taiwan in order to avoid any misunderstanding of the motive behind the extension. We therefore propose that, subject to Members' agreement, China be informed of our decision through Political Adviser's Office shortly before the extension of
the
CONFIDENTIAL