Strategic Trade Controls Circular No. 19/2009
Amendment of Schedule 1 to the
Import & Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations
- Invitation to Seminars

Background

Hong Kong's control list for strategic commodities, as set out in Schedule 1 to the Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations ("the 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.). The Schedule is under regular review and, where appropriate, is amended to reflect the latest revisions adopted by the regimes in their respective control lists.

The Amendment

2. The trade has been notified vide Strategic Trade Controls Circular No. 16/2009 that the Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2009 ("the Order") has been prepared to reflect the revisions adopted by the various international non-proliferation regimes up to end of 2008. Major changes introduced into our control list include the relaxation of control over certain wireless personal area network equipment devices with published or commercial cryptographic standard (including certain wireless routers and wireless printers, etc.) and the removal of control over certain field programmable logic devices (including certain high-technology integrated circuits with memory functions). A summary of the major revisions covered by the Order is enclosed in the Annex (pdf format) of the aforesaid circular.

Effective Date of the Order

3. The Director-General of Trade and Industry has appointed 4 February 2010 for the Order to come into force by a notice published in the Gazette. Please refer to Strategic Trade Controls Circular No. 18/2009 for the details.

Seminars

4. To facilitate our trade to have a better understanding on the upcoming changes to the control list, we will arrange two sessions of seminars, conducted in Chinese ¹, to be held on 15 and 18 January 2010 respectively.
   
   
5. You are cordially invited to attend one of these seminars. Owing to the limited seats available, please nominate for your company one representative who is involved in the handling of import/export licence applications covering strategic commodities. Please make prior reservation by completing the reservation form in Annex (pdf format) and fax it to 3525 1526 on or before 6 January 2010 (Wednesday). We will contact you by phone to confirm your reservation. In case you do not receive our confirmation one day before the date of your selected session, please contact Ms Cynthia Liu at telephone no. 2398 5626 for follow up.

Enquiry

6. For any further enquiries 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.

Strategic Trade Controls Branch
Trade and Industry Department

1. English session can be arranged separately upon request.