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Commerce and Industry

Excise Department, the Intellectual Property Department, the Post Office and the Hong Kong Observatory. It is also supported by the overseas Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs).

Trade and Industry Department

The Trade and Industry Department handles the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's (HKSAR) commercial relations with its trading partners, and protects Hong Kong's trading rights and trade interests. It also promotes Hong Kong's status as a separate customs territory and a model for international free trade.

Locally, the department provides a range of services to locally based trade and industry. organisations and businesses, including issuing certificates of origin, export and import licences and certificates of Hong Kong service suppliers. It also provides general support services for various sectors, in particular SMEs, and provides local enterprises with relevant trade information. and advises them on changes in major trading partners' import regulations.

The department also co-ordinates discussions with the Mainland authorities on the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).

Invest Hong Kong

Invest Hong Kong encourages and assists overseas, Mainland and Taiwanese companies with the potential to contribute to Hong Kong's economic development to set up and expand their operations in Hong Kong. Invest Hong Kong focuses on attracting companies in business. sectors and industries where Hong Kong has a competitive edge and encouraging multinational companies to locate their regional or global headquarters and other strategic functions in Hong Kong to tap opportunities on the Mainland and elsewhere. Invest Hong Kong conducts investment promotion activities worldwide through its 14 Investment Promotion Units (IPUs) in Hong Kong ETOS, the Beijing Office and the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan, as well as its overseas consultants in 13 strategic locations not covered by the IPUS.

Customs and Excise Department

The Customs and Excise Department enforces various trade control systems for the issue of certificates of origin (including those under the CEPA), the import and export of textiles, strategic commodities, pharmaceutical products and medicines, reserved commodities, rough diamonds and other prohibited articles, as well as compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. The department also collects import and export declarations, declaration charges and clothing levies, and enforces the relevant statutory controls.

The department also enforces the criminal laws that protect copyright and trade marks, and consumer protection legislation relating to the safety of consumer goods, fair trade practices and the integrity of weights and measures.

Intellectual Property Department

The Intellectual Property Department operates the trade marks, patents, designs and copyright licensing bodies registries, advises on policy and legislation related to intellectual property

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