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A trading firm was today (Thursday) fined $500,000 at Tsuen Wan Magistracy for importing strategic commodities, 24,333 sets of Integrated Circuits, from the United States and exporting 9,500 sets of them to Taiwan without valid licences.

The goods involved are valued at about $5.35 million.

The court heard that investigations by Customs officers had revealed Micromax Technology (HK) Limited imported the strategic commodities in question from the United States into Hong Kong by three occasions between October 18 and November 11 of 1996.

The defendant company subsequently re-exported 9,500 sets of the goods to Taiwan by four occasions between October 25 and November 13 of 1996. The imports and the exports were not covered by valid licences.

A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department said the offence was serious.

Officers of the Department would step up their enforcement actions to track down such malpractice in order to ensure Hong Kong's continued access to high-tech goods and up-to-date technology and preventing Hong Kong from being used as a conduit for the proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and other strategically sensitive goods, the spokesman stressed.

The maximum penalty on summary conviction for importing/exporting strategic commodities without a licence is a fine of $500,000 and two years' imprisonment.

End/Thursday, October 8, 1998

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