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Press Releases
Revised Strategic Commodities
Control List Will Take Effect on 11 June 2004
Friday, June 4, 2004
The Import and Export (Strategic
Commodities) Regulations (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2004, gazetted on 30
April 2004 and tabled at the Legislative Council on 5 May 2004, will come into
operation on 11 June 2004.
"Hong Kong has followed
closely the international control regimes and imposed controls to the highest
international standards. Whenever these regimes introduce changes to their control
lists, Hong Kong would follow suit where appropriate," a spokesman for
the Trade and Industry Department said. "The current exercise, for instance,
will update Hong Kong's strategic commodities control list to incorporate the
latest changes adopted by the various international control regimes including
the Wassenaar Arrangement, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group
and Nuclear Suppliers Group, " he added.
"To most traders, the
more significant changes to become effective are the relaxation of control threshold
of computers from the current 28,000 million theoretical operations per second
(Mtops) to 190,000 Mtops and the removal of control over general purpose microprocessors.
All these changes would render the import and export of microprocessors and
most commonly available computers be exempted from licensing control."
said the spokesman.
Under Hong Kong's legislative
framework, import and export of strategic commodities are subject to licensing
controls by the Director-General of Trade and Industry. "Such control is
necessary in order to monitor and control the flow of strategic commodities,
and hence to maintain the confidence of the supplying countries of these products
in our control system, thereby ensuring Hong Kong's continued access to high-technology
products," the spokesman said.
Traders may visit the websites
of the Strategic Commodities Control System (http://www.stc.tid.gov.hk) or the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (http://www.gov.hk) to refer
to the Order (L. N. 65 of 2004 in Legal Supplement No. 2 to Gazette No. 18 Vol.
8 published on 30 April 2004).
Enquiries on the amendments
can be made to the Strategic Trade Controls Branch, Trade and Industry Department,
5th floor, Trade and Industry Department Tower, 700 Nathan Road, Mong Kok, Kowloon,
by telephone at 2398 5587 or by email at stc@tid.gov.hk.
The Department will also
inform traders of the details of the amended Schedule through circulars and
general advisory service.
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