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steering committee at the beginning of 2010 for co-ordination and implementation of the committee's recommendations.

Chinese Medicines

The regulation of Chinese medicines is subject to the Chinese Medicine Ordinance. Any person engaged in the retailing or wholesale of Chinese medicines or the manufacture or wholesale of proprietary Chinese medicines (pCm), is required to obtain a licence. Any pCm sold, imported or possessed in Hong Kong must be registered. The Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong is now the responsible body for devising and implementing regulatory measures for Chinese medicine. Applications for Chinese medicine trader licences and for registration of proprietary Chinese medicines have been accepted since April and December 2003 respectively.

As a transitional arrangement, pCm that are manufactured or sold on March 1, 1999 are eligible for a transitional registration status upon submission of acceptable basic test reports. By the end of 2010, there were 6 596 licensed Chinese medicine traders (including 227 holding transitional licences), and 9 202 pCm have obtained the transitional registration status.

The mandatory registration requirement for pCm was formally introduced on December 3, 2010. All pCm must be registered before they can be imported or sold in Hong Kong. Products which have obtained registration status must also be stamped with the relevant registration number. The import, sale or possession of unregistered pCm is an offence.

Human Organ Transplantation

Under the Human Organ Transplant Ordinance, transplant of human organs and importation of human organs for transplant purposes are regulated, and commercial dealings in human organs intended for transplant are prohibited. Approval from the statutory Human Organ Transplant Board is required for transplantation of human organs between living persons who are not genetically related or a couple whose marriage has subsisted for not more than three years. The board also collects certain information about transplant operations in prescribed statutory forms.

In 2010, the Board received a total of 31 applications for organ transplants between living non-related persons. In total, five organs were imported into Hong Kong for transplant purposes during the same year.

Human Reproductive Technology

Human reproductive technology activities are regulated to ensure the procedures are conducted in a safe and informed manner, and to safeguard the welfare of children born through the technology. The Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance2 and its regulations came into full effect on August 1, 2007. Reproductive technology service providers and embryo researchers who wish to conduct relevant activities as regulated by the ordinance must obtain a licence issued by the Council on Human Reproductive Technology. Up to December 31, 2010, the council had

2

Except section 33(4)(a) of the Ordinance.

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