TNAG-1953-FCO40-2782-Trade-of-rare-and-endangered-species-in-Hong-Kong-1989 — Page 3

internationally and

and has led the United States government to declare that it would ban, totally, the import of all ivory in whatever form, from countries which import such items. Furthermore, at the 1987 CITES Conference a resolution was adopted urging parties to tighten the control of worked ivory. This can be achieved in Hong Kong by amendment of the Second Schedule to the Ordinance by removing the words of qualification i.e. "unworked or simply prepared" ivory.

Revision of Fees

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Licences are required for the legitimate import, possession or export of endangered species. This is to cover trade in CITES

CITES source-approved items and the possession and movement of animals and plants for scientific or educational purposes. The Fourth

Fourth Schedule prescribes fees

prescribes fees for the

for the issue of, and variation to, licences. The fees have not been revised since the enactment of the Ordinance in 1976. A costing exercise was recently carried out and,

and, based on this, a new scale of fees is recommended. It is

is not proposed to recover full costs at this stage since in most cases the existing $10 fee for import and export licences is well below actual cost ($370). In these cases a flat fee of $50 is proposed. The fee for the import

import of live animals would increase from $260 to $300. Fees for possession would generally increase from $10 to $55. We propose to revise the fee structure again in 1990. The table at Annex C sets out the

the proposed changes and indicates the existing fees, the fees necessary to effect full cost recovery and the proposed new fees.

The Amendment Order

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The Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance (Replacement of Schedules) Order 1988 seeks to update the list of protected animals and plants and to increase the prescribed licence fees as set out in Schedules 1 - 4 of Annex A.

Exemptions

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Section 18 of the Ordinance provides for exemption from the overall restrictions on

on import, export or possession of scheduled species by means of an exemption order, made by the Governor. Such an order, the Animals & Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) (Exemption) Order,

is currently enforced. In practice, this allows for, for example, the possession of specimens for educational or scientific purposes and recognition that ivory may be traded legally in Hong Kong (there remain legal sources of supply).

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