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Manufacturer fined for malpractice
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A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department today (Monday) said that it was a serious offence to furnish false information in an application for certificate of
origin.
The reminder was made after a fabric manufacturer was fined $500,000 at Tuen Mun Magistracy today after pleading guilty to eight counts of giving false information in certificates of origin applications.
The goods involved were silk woven fabric valued at $2.18 million for export to Japan.
The court heard that an investigation by officers of the Customs and Excise Department revealed that between March 1995 and April 1995, the accused company purchased the China origin fabric through a local firm. In order to obtain the certificates for assisting the Japanese buyer to evade import tariff, it falsely declared in the applications for certificate of origin that the goods were products of its own.
The spokesman stressed that the department would step up enforcement actions to track down such malpractice to protect the commercial reputation of Hong Kong and to ensure that the confidence of its trading partners in Hong Kong's textile control system would not be undermined by some dishonest businessmen.
The maximum penalty for giving false information in an application for certificate of origin was 500,000 in fine plus two years of imprisonment, he added.
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Prompt collection of BN(O) passports
Applicants who have been notified to collect their British National (Overseas) passports should pick up their passports promptly from the date when the passports are ready for collection at their chosen immigration offices, a spokesperson of the Immigration Department appealed to them today (Monday).
Currently, there are around 30,000 prepared BN(O) passports ready for collection by applicants at various immigration offices.