Strategic Trade Controls Circular No. 12/2008

Permit Requirement for 2009 and Report on Past Activities in 2008
for Scheduled Chemicals and Unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemicals under Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance, Cap. 578

Purpose

The Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance, Cap. 578 ("the Ordinance") came into operation on 18 June 2004. This circular :

1. reminds facilities of the permit requirement under the Ordinance and, where applicable, to lodge applications for permits for 2008 by 28 November 2008; and
   
2. requests facilities to complete and return to the Trade and Industry Department by 19 December 2008 the reply slip at Annex A (fillable pdf format) to indicate whether they were engaged in activities involving Scheduled Chemicals (see Annex B) (pdf format) and/or Unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemicals (UDOCs)¹ under the Ordinance during 2008 and, where applicable and upon further request by the Department, to provide final and full details of such activities by 9 January 2009.

Background

2. Strategic Trade Controls Circular No. 17/04 issued by the Trade and Industry Department on 30 April 2004 informed the industry of the commencement of the Ordinance on 18 June 2004. The purpose of the Ordinance is to enable the Chemical Weapons Convention ("the Convention"), an international treaty that aims to prohibit the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer and use of chemical weapons, to be fully implemented in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Please refer to Strategic Trade Controls Circular No. 14/03 of 6 August 2003 for an overview of the requirements under the Ordinance. Information about the Ordinance is also available at our Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance Website at http://www.cwc.tid.gov.hk.

Permit Requirement

3. The Ordinance imposes a permit requirement and specifies the circumstances under which a permit to operate a facility is required. Details about the permit requirement is at Annex C (pdf format). In brief, an operator of a facility engaged in specified activities involving Scheduled Chemicals in quantities over the respective thresholds is required to obtain a permit from the Director-General of Trade and Industry ("the Director") in order to operate the facility.

Report and Notification Requirements

4. The Ordinance requires operators subject to the permit requirement (at Annex C (pdf format)) and the notification requirement (at Annex D (pdf format)) to make annual declarations to the Director. According to the permit requirement, permit holders should lodge annual reports of their anticipated activities involving Scheduled Chemicals for the coming year before the end of the current year, and their past activities involving Scheduled Chemicals during the previous year at the beginning of the current year. According to the notification requirement, operators of facilities that produced UDOCs over the threshold quantity should make annual notifications to the Director at the beginning of each year about the past production of UDOCs in their facilities during the previous year.

Application for a Permit for 2009

5. An operator whose facility will, in 2009, be engaged in any of the activities related to Scheduled Chemicals as listed in Annex C (pdf format) should now apply for a permit from the Trade and Industry Department. The form for Application for a Permit (Form P-1) can be downloaded from the Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance Website at http://www.cwc.tid.gov.hk/english/download/application_form.html, or can be obtained from the Department direct. Please return the completed permit application form to us by post or in person to Room 516B, Trade and Industry Department Tower, 700 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon by 28 November 2008. For any questions regarding the permit requirement or the application procedures, please contact Ms Rita MAN at telephone number 2398 5670 or by email at ritaman@tid.gov.hk.

Reply Slip and Report on Past Activities in 2008

6. In accordance with the Ordinance, an operator of a facility shall inform the Trade and Industry Department if it was engaged in 2008 in specified activities involving Scheduled Chemicals as listed at Annex C (pdf format) and/or UDOCs as shown at Annex D (pdf format). In this connection, the Department will send this circular to operators who may, according to our knowledge, be engaged in such activities. Accordingly, those operators who receive this circular by mail have to complete Parts I and III of the reply slip at Annex A (fillable pdf format) to indicate whether or not their facilities had any past activities in 2008 as set out at Annexes C (pdf format) and/or D (pdf format) which need to be reported. Please return the reply slip to us by fax (fax no. 2396 3070), by post or in person to Room 516B, Trade and Industry Department Tower, 700 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon by 19 December 2008. If operators are uncertain whether they need to report activities carried out at their facilities in 2007, please provide relevant information by filling in Parts II and III of the reply slip and return it to us as early as possible, but not later than 19 December 2008. We shall then assess whether they are subject to the report or notification requirements. For any enquiry, please contact Ms Rita MAN with contact details in paragraph 5 above.
   
   
7. Any operator who indicates in Part I of the reply slip at Annex A (fillable pdf format) that the facility was engaged in 2008 in past activities as set out at Annexes C (pdf format) and/or D (pdf format) please complete the designated report forms and return the completed forms to us by post, in person to the above address or by electronic means by 9 January 2009. For reports to be sent by electronic means, the operator should possess an organisational "e-Cert" issued by an approved Certification Authority, and send the report via email to cwc@tid.gov.hk. The designated forms to report past activities on Scheduled Chemicals and UDOCs can be downloaded from the Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance Website at http://www.cwc.tid.gov.hk, or obtained from the Department direct. The information collected will be used to compile declarations for submission to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which was established under the Convention to implement the Convention.
   
   
8. Operators who do not receive this circular by mail are also welcome to provide details of the activities carried out at their facilities in 2008 by completing and returning the reply slip at Annex A (fillable pdf format) in the same way as mentioned in paragraph 6 above. The Department will assess whether they are subject to the reporting requirements and advise them of further action to be taken, if necessary. Please contact Ms Rita MAN for enquiries with contact details in paragraph 5 above.
   

Important Note

9. Facilities granted with permits or subject to the report and notification requirements would be subject to checks and inspections by authorised officers of the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED). These checks are mainly aimed at verifying and ensuring the accuracy of the information related to permits and the material particulars in any reports lodged with the Director. Facilities are therefore reminded to ensure that the information provided in their returns is accurate. In addition to checks and inspections by C&ED officers, the inspection teams of the OPCW may also conduct inspection of facilities in order to verify any information passed to it about the facilities. Operators of the facilities are required to cooperate with the officers concerned to facilitate their checks and inspections.

Warning

10. The Ordinance specifies the acts that contravene the Ordinance and the penalty for such offences. It is an offence under the Ordinance if a person who is required to obtain a permit to operate his facility operates it without such a permit. The maximum penalty, on conviction, is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for 5 years. The Ordinance also provides that the Director may, by notice in writing, require a person to give information or documents relevant to a declaration required to be given to the OPCW. Any person who fails to comply with such a notice commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment for 1 year. Operators of the facilities are required to provide all the requisite records for checking and inspection and render necessary assistance and cooperation to the officers concerned. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in penalty which includes a fine and imprisonment as set out in the Ordinance.
    
    
11. In addition to the penalty mentioned above, the Trade and Industry Department may take other administrative actions against parties committing the above offences. Such administrative actions may involve, but shall not necessarily be confined to, any or all of the following: refusal to grant, suspension or revocation of permits, and refusal to issue licences for imports or exports of chemicals.

Strategic Trade Controls Branch
Trade and Industry Department

1. Unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemicals (UDOCs) are "Discrete Organic Chemicals" not listed in the Schedules of the Chemical Weapons Convention. "Discrete Organic Chemical" is defined as any chemical belonging to the class of chemical compounds consisting of all compounds of carbon except for its oxides, sulfides and metal carbonates; and identifiable by chemical name; structural formula, if known; and Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry number, if assigned.