ENG-1990 — Page 132

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

half by retail sale at newsstands, supermarkets and convenience stores. The annual Choice Buying Guide, now in its third year, was much in demand by English readers. The year marked the launching of the council's new venture in book publishing - a 160-page book dealing with the subject of home purchasing was published and met with immediate success. On consumer education, the council was active in enlisting the support of the mass media, schools and community groups to arouse the awareness of the public of their rights

as consumers.

The Consumer Council of Hong Kong is a Council Member of the International Organisation of Consumers Unions and maintains strong ties with other similar councils.

Trade in Endangered Species

In Hong Kong, the importation, exportation and possession of endangered species of animals and plants, including parts and derivatives, are strictly regulated by the Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance which gives effect to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The licensing policy follows closely the principles of the convention. Commercial trade in highly-endangered species is prohibited and trade in less-endangered species is subject to strict licensing requirements.

The CITES conference decided in October 1989 that the African elephant should be uplisted from Appendix II to Appendix I, with a view to the prohibition of all interna- tional trade in elephant ivory. The conference rejected a proposal to allow trade in exist- ing ivory stocks despite arguments put forward by Hong Kong that the continued trade of the territory's legal, finite and strictly-controlled ivory stocks would not pose a threat to the survival of the elephants in Africa and that an indiscriminate trade ban would be unfair to traders who had acquired stocks in strict compliance with the CITES requirements.

In order to allow time for the orderly disposal of the legally-acquired ivory stocks in Hong Kong and for the ivory workers to be retrained and to find alternative employment, the United Kingdom Government entered a six-month reservation on Hong Kong's behalf to enable the export of CITES-approved ivory stocks to non-CITES parties or to parties with an appropriate reservation.

The Local Employment Service of the Labour Department opened a special register to assist ivory workers wishing to take up alternative employment. The Vocational Training Council assisted displaced carvers to enrol in existing training courses and also organised special retraining courses for them.

The Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance was amended in July 1990 to prohibit commercial import and export of ivory. The schedules of the ordinance were amended to keep them in line with the updated CITES Appendices I and II species lists. The amendments placed more species under control.

The ordinance is administered by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department and is enforced by officers of the department and the Customs and Excise Department through checking at entry points, markets, shops and restaurants, as well as inspection of endangered species shipments. All suspected offences are thoroughly investigated and prosecutions follow if there is evidence of a breach of the ordinance. During 1990, there were 384 seizures and 216 prosecutions under the ordinance.

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