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A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department said today (May 2) that it is a serious offence to furnish false information in export licence application.

The warning is given after a garment manufacturer, Maxford Garments Ltd. was fined $300,000 at North Kowloon Magistracy today for making false statement in 10 applications for export licence.

The court heard that the company submitted 10 licence applications to the Trade Department in April and May 1998 to cover the export of 34,560 pairs of cotton woven jeans to Germany. In each of the applications, the company declared that the goods were manufactured by the company in Hong Kong.

An investigations by officers of the Customs and Excise Department, however, revealed that 12,400 pairs of the jeans were entirely manufactured by a factory in China.

Officers of the Department would step up their enforcement actions to track down such malpractices to protect the commercial reputation of Hong Kong and to ensure that the textiles control system would not be undermined by some dishonest businessmen, the spokesman stressed.

The maximum penalty for furnishing false information in an export licence application is a fine of $500,000 and two years' imprisonment.

Members of the public having information on any suspected illegal textile transshipment activities could call the Customs hotline 2545 6182.

End/Tuesday, May 2, 2000

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