INDUSTRY AND TRADE
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The Preventive Service, a uniformed and disciplined organisation, whose role in the protection of revenue from dutiable commodities and the control of narcotics traffic is described in Chapter 10, is under the command of an Assistant Commissioner. The service has an establishment of 13 gazetted officers, 268 inspectors and 693 rank and file.
The General Duties Branch deals with trade licensing (other than for textiles) and the control of certain reserved commodities includ- ing rice.
Trade Development Council
The Trade Development Council was established by statute in 1966. The council's chairman is appointed by the Governor, while its members comprise representatives of principal commercial and industrial organisations, two senior government officials and four nominated members. The council, which is financed by subvention from the Government's general revenue, has a permanent staff under an executive director. Its head office is in the Ocean Terminal, Kowloon, where it maintains a permanent display of Hong Kong products.
The council continued to provide an extensive trade service through its 11 offices abroad. During the year a new office__was opened in Toronto. In addition, the organisation now maintains offices in London, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Brussels, Vienna, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Sydney. Plans are underway to establish new offices next year in Milan and Manchester.
The programme for overseas promotions was extensive during 1971. In conjunction with its overseas offices, the council organised or arranged participation for 'Hong Kong manufacturers and exporters in many specialised and general trade fairs. In the past 12 months Hong Kong made products were to be seen at trade fairs in Nuremberg, Frankfurt, London, Gothenberg, Dusseldorf, Milan, Leipzig and Cologne. Hong Kong trade missions also visited Canada, the United States, Britain and Japan, while incoming missions to Hong Kong were organised from Austria and Britain. In addition the council sponsored a store promotion in Sweden and conducted market surveys in Malaysia and Singapore and selected African countries.
In Hong Kong, the Trade Development Council participated in the 29th CMA Exhibition of Hong Kong Products, and again organised the Hong Kong Ready-to-Wear Festival in March, which attracted several hundred buyers from all major world markets.