INDUSTRY AND TRADE
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adverse results of their introduction of the HS, which is intended to be neutral in its effect on tariff levels.
New Round of Trade negotiations: The Contracting Parties to the GATT held a session at ministerial level in Uruguay from September 15 to 19, 1986 and launched a new round of multilateral trade negotiations to further liberalise world trade and to strengthen the disciplines of the GATT. Hong Kong took part in the ministerial meeting as a GATT contracting party and will continue to participate fully in the new trade round.
Documentation of Imports and Exports
As a free port, Hong Kong keeps its import and export licensing requirements to a minimum. Products over a wide range do not need licences to enter or leave Hong Kong. Where licences are required, they are intended to achieve two main objectives. Firstly, they help Hong Kong to fulfil its international obligations to restrain exports of textiles products and, related to this, to monitor the flow of these products into Hong Kong. Thus there is a requirement for all imports and exports of such products to be covered by licences issued by the Director of Trade. Secondly, they help Hong Kong to control, on health or safety grounds, exports and imports of a few types of non-textile products such as strategic commodities, pharmaceuticals, agricultural pesticides and rice.
There is in Hong Kong a certification of origin system to establish the origin of the goods which Hong Kong exports and to meet the requirements of the importing authorities. The Trade Department administers and safeguards the integrity of this system, and issues certificates of origin where required. Other government-approved certificate issuing organ- isations are the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Chinese Manufacturers' Associa- tion of Hong Kong, and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce.
Trade Department
The Trade Department is responsible for Hong Kong's commercial relations with foreign governments. It implements trade policy and agreements, and procedures for import and export licensing and origin certification. On matters of policy affecting trade, the Director of Trade takes advice from the Trade Advisory Board and the Textiles Advisory Board, both of which are appointed by the Governor and chaired by the Secretary for Trade and Industry. The department consists of five divisions. Three of them deal with bilateral commercial relations with Hong Kong's trading partners. Their work includes the conduct of trade negotiations and the implementation of textile agreements, as well as collecting and disseminating information on developments, especially those relating to trade policy in Hong Kong's major markets, which may affect Hong Kong. The distribution of work among these three divisions is by geographical area. The fourth division deals with the multilateral aspects of Hong Kong's external commercial relations, such as its participation in the GATT and in the negotiation of the MFA. The fifth division is responsible for common services, origin certification, the import and export licensing of commodities other than textiles, and a rice control scheme.
The department's work is assisted by Hong Kong Government Offices in London, Brussels, Geneva, New York, Washington and San Francisco. Details are at Appendix 2. These overseas offices are administered by the Trade and Industry Branch of the Govern- ment Secretariat. They represent Hong Kong's commercial relations interests on a day-to-day basis and provide information on international developments which may affect Hong Kong.