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Garment manufacturer heavily fined for malpractice
A garment factory partner was fined $398,004 at North Kowloon Magistracy today (Friday) after pleading guilty to five counts of making a false statement regarding the origin of goods in certificate of origin application.
The court heard that the factory submitted five applications for certificates of origin covering 840 dozens of ladies' knitted dresses for export to the United States on April 1 last year.
It was stated in the applications that the goods were of Hong Kong origin.
However, investigations by officers of the Customs and Excise Department found that the production of the goods were done in China.
A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department said the offences were serious.
The department would step up its enforcement actions to track down such malpractices to protect the commercial reputation of Hong Kong and to ensure that the confidence of its trading partners in Hong Kong's textiles control system would not be undermined by some dishonest businessmen, the spokesman stressed.
The maximum penalty for making a false statement in certificate of origin application is a $500,000 fine plus two years' imprisonment.
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Reciprocal postal agreement signed
An agreement was signed between the Hong Kong Post Office and Canada Post Corporation for the reciprocal marketing of stamps today (Friday).
For the first time, Hong Kong stamps will be on sale in Canadian Post Offices and Canadian stamps will go on sale in the 19 Hong Kong Post Office Philatelic Offices.