Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance:
Questionnaire for Initial Declaration

1. Purpose of this Circular

   The Trade and Industry Department has issued Strategic Trade Controls Circular No. 14/03 on 6 August 2003 to inform the local industry and facilities about the enactment of the Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance (" the Ordinance") and the major features of the Ordinance. In accordance with the requirements under the Chemical Weapons Convention ("the Convention"), the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("the HKSAR") Government is required to submit Initial Declaration to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons ("the OPCW"), an organization based in The Hague established under the Convention which aims to ensure that provisions of the Convention are properly implemented. The Initial Declaration must be submitted shortly after implementation of the Convention in the HKSAR.

2. To enable the HKSAR Government to compile the Initial Declaration, the Trade and Industry Department has prepared a questionnaire to collect the necessary information from local facilities. The questionnaire (pdf format) is attached herewith for your completion. Completed questionnaires should be returned to the Trade and Industry Department. The questionnaire is divided into two parts. Completed Part A of questionnaire should be returned by 1 December 2003 and Part B by 12 January 2004. Please adhere strictly to the above deadlines.

2. Initial Declaration

3. The HKSAR Government is required under the Convention to submit an Initial Declaration to the OPCW no later than 30 days after the commencement of the Ordinance. Hence, the industry and facilities are required to provide data in the attached Questionnaire on the production, processing, consumption, import and export of the scheduled chemicals and unscheduled discrete organic chemicals (UDOCs)¹ . 'Scheduled chemicals' refer to chemicals listed in the schedules of the Convention and the list of all scheduled chemicals is provided at Annex I of the questionnaire. 'UDOCs' refer to discrete organic chemicals not covered in the Schedules of the Convention, and therefore not covered in Annex I. Information requested by the questionnaire covers past activities involving the controlled chemicals in 2001 - 2003 calendar years where appropriate. The questionnaire also asks for anticipated activities in 2004 to determine whether your facility will be subject to the permit and notification requirements under the Ordinance.
   
   
4. You are advised to ensure the accuracy of the information provided as they will be checked and verified by officers of the Customs and Excise Department as well as by the international inspection team of the OPCW. The Department will notify you separately of the details should your facility be subject to such inspections. Please also note that the Department will collect similar information from you on past and anticipated activities involving the controlled chemicals at your facility in the form of annual reports/notifications on a calendar year basis in future. The Department will separately issue a circular on the permit and notification requirements under the Ordinance.

3. Questionnaire

5. The questionnaire collects information from your facility/plant on the following during the calendar years of 2001 - 2003, where appropriate:
   
   
   1. whether your facility handled any chemicals that are controlled under the Ordinance, i.e. any chemicals that are listed in Schedule 1, 2 and 3 in Annex I to the questionnaire, as well as any discrete organic chemicals not listed in the Schedules; and if so, the CAS registry numbers, the IUPAC chemical names, the common or trade names, the structural formula of the chemicals;
      
      
   2. the type of activities performed at your facility/plant involving the controlled chemicals, e.g. production, processing, consumption, import, export, and the quantities involved;
      
      
   3. the purposes of the activities performed at your facility/plant; and
      
      
   4. the production capacity of your facility/plant and the calculation method used to estimate the production capacity of your facility/plant.
      
      
6. The following briefly describes the layout of the questionnaire and how you should return your questionnaire :
   
   
   1. Layout
      
      The questionnaire is divided into Parts A and B with two annexes. Part A covers the general activities at your facility and provides guidance on how you should continue with the questionnaire. Part B is divided into Sections I, II, III and IV and covers Schedules 1, 2, 3 chemicals and UDOCs respectively. Please note that Sections I, III and IV ask for information for 2003 only, while Section II requires information for 2001 - 2003. You are only required to fill in the parts of the questionnaire relevant to your facility/plant.
      
      
   2. How to return your reply
      
      After you have completed the questionnaire, please send them to the Trade and Industry Department by fax, by mail or in person according to the fax number and address on the cover page of the questionnaire. For Part A, please let us have your reply by 1 December 2003. For those facilities which are also required to complete Part B of the questionnaire, please let us have your completed questionnaire by 12 January 2004. For Part B, please also indicate the total number of pages contained in your reply in the space provided on the questionnaire (including supplementary information and attachments as required but no need to attach the cover page, Notes and Annexes of the questionnaire). As you may need to look up past records to answer some of the questions, you are advised to make early preparation for questions related to 2001 and 2002, if applicable. Questions related to 2003 may be filled in towards the end of 2003 or in early 2004 when such information is available.
      

4. Visit by Customs and Excise Department

7. In order to ensure the accuracy of the Initial Declaration to be submitted to OPCW, the Government has to ensure that information provided in the questionnaires are accurate. Officers of the Customs and Excise Department will therefore visit facilities to verify the records of the facilities against the answers provided in the questionnaires. Under the Ordinance, officers of the Customs and Excise Department are empowered to conduct inspections and verifications against facilities. Facilities are advised to keep at hand the records relevant to the information provided in the questionnaire in the relevant calendar year during the period 2001 - 2003 such that the records are readily available for presentation to the Customs officers.
   

5. The Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance Website

8. The Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance Website has already been launched. It provides information relating to the Ordinance including the permit and notification requirements and obligations of the industry under the Ordinance. Please visit the website at http://www.cwc.tid.gov.hk.
   

6. Commencement Date of the Ordinance

9. As mentioned in our last circular, the Ordinance was published in the Gazette in July 2003. The Ordinance is expected to commence in early 2004 on a date to be specified by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology. The commencement date of the Ordinance will be published in the Gazette and will also be announced through the Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance Website.
   

7. Seminar for the Industry

10. To enable facilities to better understand the implication of the Ordinance as well as the requirements and their obligation under the Ordinance, seminars will be organised at the Trade and Industry Department on 12 and 19 November 2003 to brief the industry and interested facilities. Please indicate by completing the reply form (pdf format) attached to this circular whether you are interested in attending the seminar and if so the date you prefer. Please return the reply slip to the Trade and Industry Department by fax (fax number 2396 3070) by 29 October 2003.

8. Enquiry

11. If you have any questions on this circular, please contact Ms Connie Ho at tel. no. 2398 5625 or Miss Annie Loong at 2398 5670.

(Ms Angela LIU)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

¹" UDOCs " is " Unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemicals", which mean Discrete Organic Chemical not listed in Schedule 1, 2 or 3 of the Chemical Weapons Convention.  "Discrete Organic Chemical" is 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.