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To address these concerns, the Committee Stage amendment to clause 5 seeks to replace the original offence provision with a new clause. The new clause adequately addresses the concerns of the legal profession while achieving the policy objective of tackling wilful piracy on a commercial scale more effectively. It makes clear the criminal acts, done outside Hong Kong, which are actionable. Such acts relate primarily to the manufacture of pirated copyright products outside Hong Kong for export to Hong Kong. The new clause also makes aiding, abetting, procuring or counselling of such acts an offence. I believe this new legislative tool will greatly enhance the Customs' capability in. tackling cross-border piracy activities and the masterminds of copyright piracy syndicates, thereby protecting the legitimate interests of copyright owners and overseas investors in Hong Kong.
The second major amendment relates to the treatment of parallel imports under custom border measures. The Administration originally proposed to provide new customs border measures to strengthen border controls in order to help prevent the importation of infringing copyright products into Hong Kong, and to facilitate copyright holders, including exclusive licensees, to initiate civil actions against pirated copyright products and parallel imports. The distinction between pirated copyright products and parallel imports is that the former generally refers to those copyright products manufactured without the copyright owners' authorisation, while the latter generally refers to those goods which are lawfully manufactured outside with the authorisation of the copyright owners there but their importation into Hong Kong is illegal under the existing copyright regime.
The motion picture industry and the video rental business have expressed differing views on whether the new customs border measures should be applicable to parallel imports. They have also raised the broader issue of whether the existing criminal restriction against parallel imports should be maintained.
Having considered the various views on the interpretation of the requirement in the TRIPS Agreement and having assessed the importance of early enactment of the customs border measure provisions to enhance border control against pirated goods, the Administration has agreed to exclude parallel imports from the ambit of the new customs border measure provisions. The corresponding Committee Stage amendment will achieve this by amending the definition of "infringing copy" in clause 9 of the Bill.
Members may wish to note that the Administration has advised the Bills Committee that it is not our intention to change the existing law relating to parallel import in the present exercise. The Administration has undertaken to consider the broader issue of whether to maintain any restriction against parallel imports in the context of the comprehensive law reform on copyright. I can assure Members that before putting forward any legislative proposals relating to parallel imports, the Administration will examine carefully the views of interested parties and the public. We will seek to strike a fair balance between the various interests, including intellectual property protection, consumer welfare, free trade and competition.