ENG-1972 — Page 48

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INDUSTRY AND TRADE

Hong Kong law does not provide for the original grant of patents, but the grantee of a United Kingdom patent may, within five years from the date of its issue, apply to have it registered in Hong Kong under the Registration of United Kingdom Patents Ordinance. Registration confers the same rights as though the patent had been issued in the United Kingdom with an extension to Hong Kong. A total of 670 patents were registered during the year, compared with 430 in 1971.

Companies

The Companies Registry keeps records of all companies incorporated in Hong Kong and also of all foreign corporations which have established a place of business in Hong Kong. Local companies are incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, which is based on the (now superseded) Companies Act 1929 of Great Britain. The Companies Law Revision Committee, which was reconstituted in 1968 to consider the revision of the ordinance, submitted its First Report, dealing with the protection of investors, in June 1971. Some of the recommendations in the report were implemented by the Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 1972, enacted on December 14. It will come into force on a date to be appointed by the Governor. This ordinance intro- duces more detailed requirements as to prospectuses, and brings the relevant pro- visions of the Companies Ordinance largely into line with those of the Companies Act 1948 in Britain. At the end of the year, several items of legislation based upon the other recommendations in the report were under consideration.

On incorporation a company pays a registration fee of $100 plus $2 for every $1,000 nominal capital. In 1972, a total of 4,810 new companies were incorporated, 963 more than the total incorporated in 1971. The nominal capital of new companies registered during 1971 totalled $5,551,900,410, or 161 per cent more than the cor- responding figure for the previous year. Of the new companies, 132 had a nominal share capital of $5 million or more. During the year, 1,132 companies increased their nominal capital by amounts totalling $10,458,670,000, on which fees were paid at the same rate of $2 per $1,000. At the end of the year, there were 26,067 local companies on the register compared with 21,622 on December 31, 1971.

Companies incorporated overseas are required to register certain documents with the Companies Registry within one month of establishing a place of business in Hong Kong. Only small filing fees are payable in such cases. During the year, 101 such com- panies were registered and 32 ceased to operate. By the end of the year, there were 832 companies registered from 48 countries, including 217 from the United States, 106 from the United Kingdom and 91 from Japan. Usually for tax reasons, many non- local companies incorporate a subsidiary in Hong Kong in preference to operating a branch office.

All insurance companies wishing to transact life, fire or marine insurance business in Hong Kong must comply with the provisions of the Life Insurance Companies Ordinance or the Fire and Marine Insurance Companies Deposit Ordinance, respec- tively. In addition to the filing of annual accounts, these ordinances require deposits to be made with the Registrar of Companies, unless the company qualifies for exemp- tion by complying with the Insurance Companies Acts 1958-1967 in Great Britain,