XN000022-1992-06-02 — Page 12

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TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1992

"TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH THIS PROBLEM, WE HAVE IN PLACE A WELL ESTABLISHED TEXTILE EXPORT CONTROL SYSTEM WHICH IS BACKED UP BY LAW AND VIGOROUSLY ENFORCED BY THE HONG KONG CUSTOMS, MR TSANG SAID.

"

HE EXPLAINED THAT UNDER THE SYSTEM, EXPORTERS AND IMPORTERS WERE REQUIRED TO BE REGISTERED WITH THE TRADE DEPARTMENT AND TOOK OUT EXPORT AND IMPORT LICENCES FOR ALMOST ALL EXPORTS, IMPORTS AS WELL

AS RE-EXPORTS OF TEXTILES PRODUCTS.

WHERE HONG KONG QUOTAS WERE USED TO COVER DOMESTIC EXPORTS, THE MANUFACTURER WAS REQUIRED TO ENSURE THAT THE GOODS

OF HONG KONG ORIGIN AND THERE WERE EFFECTIVE SANCTIONS AGAINST ANY MISUSE OF QUOTAS.

FOR CERTAIN MARKETS SUCH AS THE USA AND THE EEC, TRADERS WERE FURTHER REQUIRED TO TAKE OUT CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN FOR THE PURPOSE OF ASCERTAINING THE ORIGIN OF THE GOODS.

BESIDES, THE LAW ALSO MADE IT AN OFFENCE IN HONG KONG то ARRANGE FOR FALSE LABELING, EVEN IF THE ACTUAL LABELING WAS CARRIED OUT OUTSIDE HONG KONG.

"ALTHOUGH THE HONG KONG TEXTILES AND GARMENT INDUSTRIES ARE NOWADAYS ASSUMING GRADUALLY LESS IMPORTANCE THAN TWO OR THREE DECADES AGO, THEY ARE STILL OUR LARGEST INDUSTRIAL SECTORS WITH ROUGHLY 300,000 IN THEIR WORKFORCE.

"THERE ARE OVER 12,000 TEXTILE FACTORIES AND THEY ARE VERY MUCH ALIVE. ACTUAL MANUFACTURING IS TAKING PLACE HERE EVERY DAY, AND NOT JUST DESIGNING, PRODUCTION PLANNING AND QUALITY CONTROL OF THE TEXTILE GOODS AS SOME HAVE SUGGESTED.

"OUR FACTORIES POSSESS MORE THAN ADEQUATE AND MODERN MANUFACTURING CAPACITY TO SUSTAIN THE PRESENT LEVEL OF TEXTILE EXPORTS AND ARE MAKING GOOD USE OF IT. OF COURSE, WHERE NO QUOTA OR ORIGIN REQUIREMENT IS INVOLVED, A MANUFACTURER IS FREE TO CHOOSE THE MOST PROFITABLE PLACE TO PRODUCE HIS GOODS.

"THIS LATTER POINT IS NOT ALWAYS CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD AND HAS GIVEN RISE TO UNHELPFUL SPECULATION," HE SAID.

LASTLY, MR TSANG CONCLUDED BY SAYING THAT HE TOOK IT AS HIS FIRST DUTY TO MONITOR HONG KONG'S TEXTILE CONTROL SYSTEM VIGILANTLY AND IMPROVE UPON IT AS NEEDED.

"WE WOULD NOT LET OUR SYSTEM TO BE EVEN THE SECOND BEST IN THE WORLD," HE SAID.

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