ENG-1988 — Page 107

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

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organisations are the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Chinese Manufacturers' Associa- tion of Hong Kong, and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce.

Trade Department

The Trade Department is responsible for Hong Kong's commercial relations with foreign governments. It implements trade policy and agreements, and procedures for import and export licensing and origin certification. On matters of policy affecting trade, the Director of Trade takes advice from the Trade Advisory Board and the Textiles Advisory Board, both of which are appointed by the Governor and chaired by the Secretary for Trade and Industry.

The department consists of five divisions. Three of them deal with bilateral commercial relations with Hong Kong's trading partners. Their work includes the conduct of trade negotiations and the implementation of textile agreements, as well as collection and dissemination of information on developments which may affect Hong Kong's external trade, especially those relating to trade policies and measures adopted in Hong Kong's major markets. The distribution of work among these three divisions is by geographical area. The fourth division deals with the multilateral aspects of Hong Kong's external commercial relations, such as its participation in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and in the negotiation of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement. The fifth division is responsible for common services, origin certification, the import and export licensing of commodities other than textiles, and a rice control scheme.

The department's work is assisted by Hong Kong Government Offices in London, Brussels, Geneva, New York, Washington, San Francisco and Tokyo. Details are at Appendix 6. These overseas offices are administered by the Trade and Industry Branch of the Government Secretariat. They represent Hong Kong's commercial relations interests on a day-to-day basis and provide information on international developments which may affect Hong Kong.

Customs and Excise Department

The main functions of the Customs and Excise Department are to enforce the laws of Hong Kong related to dutiable commodities, dangerous drugs, import and export controls, intellectual property rights, to collect revenue on dutiable commodities and to carry out trade related inspections and investigations.

The department is organised into three major branches: the Headquarters Branch is responsible for administration, revenue and training; the Operations Branch comprises the three Customs and Excise Service regions; and the Investigation Branch comprises the Customs Investigation Bureau, the Trade Inspection and Verification Bureau; the Trade Investigation Bureau and the Trading Standards Investigation Bureau. The functions of the department are carried out by two groups of staff: the Customs and Excise Service which is described in Chapter 15 (Public Order) and the Trade Controls Group.

The Trade Controls Group is manned by officers of the Trade Controls Officer Grade. Its Trade Inspection and Verification Bureau is responsible for inspection of factories and consignments in connection with certificates of origin, textile quota controls, import and export licences, verification of trade declarations and manifests, and control of reserved commodities. Its Trade Investigation Bureau and Trading Standards Investigation Bureau are responsible for investigating licensing and origin fraud, false trade descriptions, in- fringements of intellectual property rights and for handling trade complaints.