XN000022-1997-01-09 — Page 3

2.

The commission was appointed by the Governor-in-Council to conduct an independent inquiry into the No. 5 Alarm fire at Garley Building, Yau Ma Tei on November 20 last year.

The fire, which took the lives of 40 people, was the worst fire that happened in a high-rise building in Hong Kong's history.

The terms of the reference of the commission are as follows:

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(a)

to inquire into the causes of the fire and the circumstances leading to the Garley Building tragedy on November 20, 1996;

(b)

(c)

to consider the response of the emergency services to the fire, and to advise on the adequacy and the co-ordination of that response; and

to make recommendations as to the actions needed to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

Hong Kong is committed to protect intellectual property rights

Hong Kong is fully committed to the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), and will continue to maintain a strong, local IPR system to the highest international standards after the transfer of sovereignty, the Director of Intellectual Property, Mr Stephen Selby, said today (Thursday).

Speaking at a meet-the-media session, Mr Selby said much work had been done by his department in the past year in updating and modernising intellectual property legislation.

Mr Selby said the enactment of the Intellectual Property (World Trade Organisation Amendments) Ordinance 1996 in May last year was a good example of the territory's efforts in IPR protection.

"Its enactment enables Hong Kong to meet its obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), of which Hong Kong is a founding member," he said.