ENG-1995 — Page 129

33.5%

26.8%

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

14.2%

Japan

2.4%

U.S.A

3.3%

China

3.4%

6.8%

U.K.

Netherlands

Switzerland

9.6%

Singapore

Others

Chart 4: Source of External Investment

assistance on investment opportunities in Hong Kong's manufacturing sector and help in the development of investment plans.

Hong Kong has concluded investment promotion and protection agreements with several of its major investment partners, including the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand.

Documentation of Imports and Exports

As a free port, Hong Kong keeps its import and export licensing requirements to a minimum. Most products do not need licences to enter or leave the territory. Where licences or notifications are required, they are intended to achieve two main objectives. First, they help Hong Kong to fulfil its international obligations to restrain exports of textile products and to monitor the flow of these products into and out of Hong Kong. Secondly, they are imposed on health, safety, environmental, security or anti-smuggling grounds. Items covered include strategic commodities, reserved commodities, pharmaceutical products and medicines, pesticides, radioactive substances and irradiating apparatus, left-hand-drive vehicles and ozone-depleting substances.

Hong Kong maintains a certification of origin system that, apart from enabling the origin of goods which Hong Kong exports to be established, also supports claims for preferential tariff treatment from donor countries where such schemes are operated. The Trade Department administers this system and issues certificates of origin where required. Five other organisations have been designated by the government to issue certificates of origin. They are the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Indian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong, the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce.

Electronic Data Interchange

Hong Kong's use of electronic data interchange has continued to expand. Electronic data interchange, the computer-to-computer exchange of business information in

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