Background

The control list for strategic commodities of Hong Kong, as set out in Schedule 1 to the Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations, mirrors those of the international non-proliferation regimes (viz. the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, etc.). Our prevailing control list was last amended in June 2004 covering the revisions adopted by these regimes up to end-2003. Since then, these regimes have introduced a number of revisions to their respective control lists. In order to reflect these new changes into our control list, we need to have corresponding amendments. The Government has therefore prepared the Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2006 ("the Order"). The Order was gazetted on 4 May 2006 and was introduced into the Legislative Council on 10 May 2006.

The Amendment

2. On this particular occasion of legislative amendment, the major changes introduced into our control list include the removal of control over microprocessors that have multiple data or instruction bus or serial communication ports, and the further relaxation of control threshold in terms of operational speed for digital computers. Please refer to Strategic Trade Controls Circular No.4/06 which sets out a summary of the revisions.

Effective Date of the Order

3. Once the legal procedure is completed, the Order will come into effect on a day to be appointed by the Director-General of Trade and Industry by a notice published in the Gazette. A separate circular will soon be issued to inform traders of the effective date of the Order.

4. To facilitate our trade to have a better understanding on the upcoming changes to Hong Kong's strategic commodities control lists, we will arrange three sessions of seminars, conducted in Chinese (1) to be held in the week of 10 July 2006.
   
   
5. You are cordially invited to attend one of these seminars. Owing to the limited seats available, we can only offer one place for each company. Please nominate one representative from your company who is involved in the handling of licence applications relating to import/export of strategic commodities to attend the seminar. Please make prior reservation by completing the attached reservation form ( pdf form ) and fax it to 2396 3070 on or before 5 July 2006 (Wed) so that we can make necessary arrangement.

Enquiry

6. We will contact you by phone to confirm the seat with you. If you do not receive our call one day before the date of your selected session, please contact Ms Cynthia Liu at 2398 5626 for follow up. If you have any other questions about the revisions brought about by the Order, please contact our Classification Section at 2398 5587. For other licensing matters, please contact our Licensing Section at 2398 5575.

Yours faithfully,

(Alex LI)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

(1) English session can be arranged separately upon request.