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Industrial Training (Clothing Industry) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 1994
Following is a speech by the Acting Secretary for Trade and Industry, Mrs Regina Ip, in moving the second reading of the Industrial Training (Clothing Industry) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 1994 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move that the Industrial Training (Clothing Industry) (Amendment) (No.2) Bill be read the second time.
The purpose of this Bill is to enable Hong Kong to seek accession in its own right to the Convention on Temporary Admission agreed at Istanbul in 1990, which is commonly known as "the Istanbul Convention".
The Istanbul Convention is a customs convention adopted by the Customs Co-operation Council. It aims to facilitate the temporary admission of goods by exempting them from import taxes and duties. It also provides for the use of international customs papers called carnets as substitutes for official customs papers issued by individual contracting parties to the Convention.
The Istanbul Convention seeks to consolidate a number of pre-existing customs conventions on the temporary admission of goods, some of which are currently applicable to Hong Kong. It is important for Hong Kong to seek accession to the Istanbul Convention in order to enable Hong Kong to continue to participate actively in the deliberations of the Customs Co-operation Council in harmonising and developing customs procedures and fostering co- operation among customs territories.
The Bill contains only two clauses.
The first clause provides that the Bill should come into operation on a day to be appointed by the Secretary for Trade and Industry. The commencement date will be synchronised with Hong Kong's accession to the Convention.