3. I have now discussed this with the Department of the
Environment, who are the UK's CITES Management Authority,
and it is their conclusion and ours that Hong Kong would
indeed be in breach of CITES if it allowed tourists to
export ivory, since Article VII of the Convention only exempts personal effects if they belong to a resident of
that country.
4. HKD faxed to Hong Kong on 6 July the correspondence
from Melville seeking an explanation, and have this morning
faxed copies of the newspaper articles and sent a telegram
reporting our and DOE's firm views on Article VII. We are
awaiting a response. In the meantime News Department are taking the line that we are discussing this with Hong Kong
but there is no question of Hong Kong not complying with
CITES Appendix I regulations after 18 July.
5. I shall minute again when we receive a reply from Hong
Kong.
JE3ACR
Julian Evans
Environment, Science & Energy Dept