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

Following is the press statement by the Head of Trade Controls of the Customs and Excise Department, Mr Andrew Wong Ching-wai, at a press briefing today (March 23).

The Customs and Excise Department has been carrying out vigorous enforcement actions, including factory and consignment inspections, blitz checks and investigations to uphold the integrity of the Textiles Export Control System. The purposes are to ensure that exports of textiles and clothing products (T&C products) using Hong Kong's quotas are actually made in Hong Kong and to facilitate the access of our T&C products to the world market. As such, the Department takes a serious view of textiles origin and transshipment fraud cases and will act vigorously to combat the illicit activities.

Recently the Department has stepped up enforcement measures to beef up inspections both at factories and control points, to curb textiles origin and transshipment fraud cases. As a result of the enforcement actions taken in the past 10 days (from 13 to 22 March), officers of the Department have detected a total of 13 textiles origin and transshipment fraud cases at factory premises as well as cargo entry and exit points. In these 13 cases, officers seized more than 33,300 pieces of finished and semi-finished garments, including blouses, pullovers and pants. The goods seized are worth about $2 million.

Of those three cases in which the seizure all bore the false origin marking of "Made in Hong Kong", two were detected when the goods were imported at Lok Ma Chau Control Point, while the remaining one was unearthed as a result of an investigation into an anonymous complaint at a local factory. The goods involved were 1,060 men's pullovers, 738 pairs of men's pants, 432 ladies' blouses, 645 ladies' vests and 1,490 ladies' T-shirts, with a total value of $457,000.

Among the seizure were also 12,720 cotton hats valued at $127,200 and bore the false origin marking of "Austria", which were seized from an incoming cargo vessel from Mainland off the Kwun Tong Public Cargo Working Area. The goods seized in this and the three cases mentioned above were in breach of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance. Under the Ordinance, the maximum penalty for possession of false trade descriptions goods for trade purposes is a fine of $500,000 and five years' imprisonment.

In the other nine cases, the goods involved were either entirely manufactured or partly assembled in Mainland, but were claimed by the manufacturers concerned to be locally made on the production notifications or export licence applications submitted to Trade Department. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, the maximum penalty for false representation on a production notification is a fine of $500,000 and two years' imprisonment.

The Department will spare no effort in combating textiles origin and transshipment frauds. Traders are reminded that importing and exporting garments with false origin labels and misrepresentation on production notification and export licence application are very serious criminal offences.

End/Thursday, March 23, 2000

NNNN