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Trade Department's Performance Pledge for 1996

The Trade Department today (Saturday) announced new pledges in its performance pledge programme for 1996 in a determined effort to providing a high- quality service to the public.

These new pledges are in respect of services rendered in connection with textiles control registration and the Textiles Trader Registration Scheme. Processing time for textiles control registration is further reduced from 30 minutes to 25 minutes while the turn around time for an amendment of textiles notification under the Textile Trader Registration Scheme is pledged to take no more than two clear working days.

Previously, no specific timing had been set for the latter and it sometimes took three to four days.

Announcing the new pledges, a spokesman for the department said these were the result of a review of the performance standards which the department conducted at the end of last year.

"Although the department has met all its performance pledges in 1995, we have included these two new initiatives in the 1996 pledge, having regard to staff's views, our record of compliance with the pledges, the operational procedures and the resources available," he said.

"In 1995, about 150 surveys were conducted at intervals randomly selected by computer to check whether the services provided by the department complied with the pledges. The compliance rate was found to be 100 per cent.

"During the same period, five substantiated or partly substantiated complaints were received as compared to 11 and three in 1993 and 1994. All complaints were properly followed up," he added.

The spokesman said the good result of the department in meeting its 1995 Performance Pledge could not have been achieved without the full co-operation and untiring effort made by its dedicated staff as well as the hard work of members of the department's Service Standards Committee, chaired by a directorate officer, in monitoring the performance of the standards set, reviewing the standards as necessary and supervising the handling of complaints.