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The Governor said the Government would try every effort to address these problems in order to ensure that HK would draw the full benefits that free trade and legally supported markets had to offer.

On the enforcement aspect, Mr Patten noted that the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau of Customs and Excise Department had been trying every effort to combat piracy with the setting up of a dedicated copyright piracy hotline, enhancement of cooperation with counterparts in China, and linkage with the Police to gather intelligence and hard evidence.

"They have been doing a terrific job. Special operations in the first two weeks of this month have netted over 85,000 CD-ROMs and video discs with a value of $5.88 million, while regular action in the last two months has pulled in over 37,000 more such articles valued at over $2.2 million," the Governor added.

Mr Patten also noted that new provisions aimed at combating cross-border piracy were being discussed by LegCo to strengthen the enforcement capability.

"For Customs, the new provisions will make it an offence for anyone to procure, aid or abet any person, in Hong Kong or elsewhere, to manufacture outside Hong Kong or import into Hong Kong pirated copyright works," he said.

Whilst noting that the Government clearly had a key role to play, Mr Patten said increased public awareness was also an important means of protecting intellectual property and that a copyright owner had the responsibility to protect his own work.

Cooperation of copyright owners, the only one who can proved that the seized article has infringed copyright, was needed in combating piracy, he said.

End

Mis-interpreted news reports on JLG talk

There has been mis-interpreted news reports on the conclusion of the seventh meeting of the JLG Budget Expert Group.

The following transcript of the remarks made by the Secretary for the Treasury, Mr KC Kwong, at the media session after the meeting will clarify the position.