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INDUSTRY AND TRADE
Hong Kong law does not provide for the original grant of patents, but the grantee of a British patent may, within five years from the date of its issue, apply to have it registered in Hong Kong under the Registration of United Kingdom Patents Ordin- ance. Registration confers the same rights as though the patent had been issued in Britain with an extension to Hong Kong. A total of 873 patents were registered during the year, compared with 670 in 1972.
Companies
The Companies Registry keeps records of all companies incorporated in Hong Kong and also of all foreign corporations which have established a place of business in Hong Kong. Local companies are incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, which is based on the (now superseded) Companies Act 1929 of Great Britain. The Companies Law Revision Committee, which was reconstituted in 1968 to consider the revision of the ordinance, submitted its first report, dealing with the protection of investors, in June 1971. Some of the recommendations in the report were imple- mented by the Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 1972, which came into force on March 1, 1973. This ordinance introduced more detailed requirements for pro- spectuses, and largely brought the relevant provisions of the Companies Ordinance into line with those of the Companies Act 1948; an important additional provision is that every prospectus must be in English and contain a Chinese translation. In April 1973 the committee submitted its second report dealing with aspects of general company law which were not covered in the first report, and included recommenda- tions on the subject of insider dealings.
Towards the end of the year two important Bills based upon the recommendations in the first report were introduced the Securities Bill 1973 and the Protection of Investors Bill 1973. The main provisions of the first Bill include the establishment of a Securities Commission and the post of Commissioner for Securities with statutory powers to cope with problems arising from dealing in securities, whether on a stock exchange or outside; and the creation of a Federation of Stock Exchanges to bring about greater uniformity of method and better trading practices. It also includes the registration of all dealers (whether or not they are members of a stock exchange), investment advisers and their representatives; and the prevention of improper trading practices, such as market rigging, price manipulation and false markets and the use of insider information. The provisions of the Stock Exchanges Control Ordinance 1973 and most of the previous conditions for recognition of a stock exchange have also been incorporated. The comparatively short Protection of Investors Bill 1973 aims to protect investors against fraudulent and reckless inducement to buy and sell securities, or invest in money-making schemes based on fluctuations in prices of shares or other forms of property. It also restricts advertisements in general which invite the public to do these things. Several other items of legislation based upon the rec- ommendations in the first report were under consideration at the end of the year.
On incorporation a company pays a registration fee of $100, plus $2 for every $1,000 of nominal capital. In 1973, 5,518 new companies were incorporated, 708 more than the total incorporated in 1972. The nominal capital of new companies