*********************************

In response to a news report today (March 9) that the sale of pirated optical discs is back to business, the Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Vincent Poon Yeung-kwong, said that the piracy situation in Hong Kong is firmly under control as a result of vigorous enforcement action taken by the Hong Kong Customs.

Mr Poon said the Hong Kong Customs is fully determined and committed to eliminating all kinds of piracy activities.

The number of retail shops selling pirated optical discs has reduced to about 100 in the territory and pirated discs circulation dropped by 98 per cent, from the height of five million pirated discs in circulation a year ago to fewer than 100 000 currently.

In fact many pirated optical disc retail shops operated at odd hours to evade Customs enforcement actions, he added.

"More recently, we have found that many of these retail shops are operating in a self-service mode - operating without shopkeepers and buyers are required to drop their payments in cartoon boxes which will be collected by operators at intervals," Mr Poon said.

Commenting on the news report that the Customs has recently reduced the number of officers in the 185-member Special Task Force, Mr Poon said in order to combat piracy in Hong Kong in a more effective way, the Customs has recently adopted a more flexible way in deploying officers from the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau to assist in enforcement actions against street-level piracy activities.

"The same level of raiding operations against retail outlets will be maintained. There is no truth in the allegation of 'seizure but not arrest to minimise resource commitment'. All offenders will be arrested." Mr Poon said.

In response to the report that some shops selling suspected pirated optical discs are coming back to business, Mr Poon explained that the Customs has already kept a close watch on these shops at the notorious shopping arcades. Investigations found these shops were in fact selling compact disc with no copyright subsistence or no complaint from the copyright owners.

"Local copyright organisations also monitor the piracy situation closely and conduct surveys. They agree with the Customs that the situation is under control," Mr Poon said.

According to the Hong Kong Theatres Association, box office of local films in 2000 had increased by 3.5 per cent or $32 million when compared with a year earlier, he noted.

End/Friday, March 9, 2001

NNNN