CONFIDENTIAL
(b) All companies dealing in commercial quantities of ivory will be required to take out possession licences.
(c) The export of all commercial quantities of all forms
of ivory will require a licence.
(d) A Special Task Force has been set up within the Customs and Excise Department to investigate and suppress any illegal ivory trade through Hong Kong.
(e) Maximum fines for violating Hong Kong's endangered species legislation have been increased 5-fold to
HK$50,000 (about £4000). Any illegal consignments are of
course confiscated.
9. These measures should ensure that as far as possible the six month breathing space will not be abused and that no new ivory would enter Hong Kong during that period.
10. The Hong Kong authorities are pressing ahead with a retraining programme for ivory workers; and they will urge the traders to take maximum advantage of the time
available to run down their stocks. The principal legal outlets open to them are countries who are not party to CITES such as South Korea, Brunei, certain Middle Eastern countries and Taiwan; and any party countries who might
enter a reservation. There would of course be no
question of exporting ivory to countries who were parties
to CITES; nor of any extension of the ban beyond the six
month period: thereafter the ban would be total.
CONFIDENTIAL
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