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The Commerce and Industry Branch of the Commerce, Industry and Technology
Bureau is responsible for the formulation and coordination of policies
and strategies in relation to Hong Kong's external commercial relations,
inward investment promotion and intellectual property protection. It also
oversees the development of policies and programmes for the industrial
and trade sectors, including SMEs, as well as the business and services
promotion. The branch is assisted in its work by a number of departments,
namely the Trade and Industry Department, the Invest Hong Kong, the Customs
and Excise Department and the Intellectual Property Department. It is
also supported by a network of Economic and Trade Offices outside Hong
Kong.
The Trade and Industry Department is responsible for handling the HKSAR's
commercial relations with its trading partners, implementing trade policies
and agreements, including the issue of certificates of origin and export
and import licences, as well as providing general support services for
the industrial sector and SMEs.
Invest Hong Kong is the government department established on July 1,
2000 to spearhead Hong Kong's efforts to attract inward investment. Its
Head Office in Hong Kong works closely with the Economic and Trade Offices
and consultants in North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Australia
to offer solution-oriented investment promotion, facilitation and after-care
services to ensure that foreign companies have the support required to
establish or expand their operations in the HKSAR, the Mainland and the
Asia-Pacific region. Invest Hong Kong also provides information to facilitate
the making of informed investment decisions by investors in setting up
regional headquarters and regional offices in Hong Kong.
Invest Hong Kong adopts a proactive investment promotion
strategy by focusing on economic sectors where Hong Kong has an edge over
other cities. The targeted sectors are financial services, trade related
services, transportation, telecommunications, media and multimedia, business
and professional services, information technology, technology (especially
electronics and biotechnology), and tourism and entertainment. In addition,
Invest Hong Kong seeks to strengthen its after-care service with a view
to retaining and expanding investments already made.
From January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003, Invest
Hong Kong assisted 142 foreign companies in completing 142 investment
projects in Hong Kong, an increase of 21 per cent compared with 2002.
The total amount of investment generated exceeded $2.49 billion, and over
2 400 new jobs were created.
Investment promotion activities included sponsoring
and participating in several major international conferences. BusinessWeek's
CEO Forum in November featured leading business executives and government
officials, including Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan and former US President
Bill Clinton, and attracted over 600 delegates.Invest Hong Kong supported
other major events in 2003, such as the 21st Pacific Insurance Conference
with 300 senior executives from the life and health insurance industry;
CASBAA (The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Convention 2003) with 91
speakers and some 1 100 delegates from around the world.
Invest Hong Kong's work in promoting Hong Kong's advantages
was recognised at the Asia Pacific Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) Awards
2003 organised by Strategic Direct Investor magazine, a Euromoney
Institutional Investor publication. Invest Hong Kong won awards for the
Best Overall Managed IPA, Best North Asia IPA, Best IPA in Creating Partnerships
and Best IPA in Attracting Financial Services Investment.
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices seek to promote economic and
trade interests by enhancing understanding of the HKSAR among opinion-formers;
closely monitoring developments that might affect the HKSAR's economic
and trading interests, such as proposed legislation; and liaising closely
with the business and commercial sectors, politicians, think tanks and
the news media. They also organise events to promote Hong Kong's image.
In addition, most of these offices seek to attract direct investment into
Hong Kong. One of the means is to actively promote Hong Kong's enhanced
business advantages and environment under the Closer Economic Partnership
Arrangement.
The offices are located in Brussels, Geneva, London,
New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington
and Guangdong.
The Brussels Office represents Hong Kong's economic
and trade interests in dealings with the European Union (EU). It also
monitors and promotes bilateral relations with the EU and its member states
except the United Kingdom.
The Geneva Office represents Hong Kong, China, as
a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and represents Hong Kong
as an observer on the Trade Committee of the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The London Office promotes Hong Kong's economic and
trade interests in the United Kingdom and non-EU countries including Switzerland,
Norway and Russia as well as the Central and Eastern European countries
that will acede to the EU in May 2004. Hong Kong's representative to the
International Maritime Organisation is also based in the office.
The offices in Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto are responsible
for bilateral economic and trade relations in their host countries. The
Sydney Office is also responsible for promoting Hong Kong's economic and
trade interests in New Zealand. The Singapore Office is responsible for
Hong Kong's commercial relations with the member states of the Association
of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). It also serves as a direct point
of contact with the Secretariats of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), which are
located in Singapore.
The Washington Office focuses on monitoring and liaising
with the US Administration, Congress and think tanks on legislation and
government policies that may have implications for Hong Kong's trade with
the United States. The New York Office and the San Francisco Office are
responsible for promoting economic and trade relations between Hong Kong
and individual US states and also seek to attract direct investment into
Hong Kong.
The Guangdong Office, which came into operation in
July 2002, is situated in Guangzhou City. Its main duties are to promote
trade and economic relationships between Hong Kong and Guangdong Province,
to provide better support services for Hong Kong businesses operating
in Guangdong, especially the Pearl River Delta, and also to provide free
advisory service and assistance to enterprises in the province, which
are looking for direct investment opportunities in Hong Kong. It is also
the first Economic and Trade Office to be established in the Mainland.
The Customs and Excise Department is responsible for enforcing various
trade control systems, including the certification of origin system, the
textiles import and export control system, the strategic commodities control
system and the import and export declaration system. These systems aim
to protect and facilitate legitimate trade. The department is also responsible
for enforcing the criminal law for the protection of copyright and trade
marks, as well as enforcing consumer protection legislation relating to
the safety of various commodities, the integrity of weights and measures,
and the marking of precious metals. In addition, to ensure that Hong Kong
has an adequate supply of rice, which is an essential foodstuff for the
local population, at a reasonably stable price, the department monitors
the local stock of rice. Since January, the department has also taken
on a new responsibility of enforcing the certification scheme for rough
diamonds. Its aim is to stop trade in 'conflict diamonds' from fuelling
armed conflicts, activities of rebel movements and illicit proliferation
of armaments. Upon the signing of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic
Partnership Arrangement, the department has also taken up the responsibility
of enforcing the relevant control system through conducting factory inspections,
consignment checks, costing verifications, blitz checks and investigations
to ensure that goods exported under the Arrangement meet the requisite
rules.
The Intellectual Property Department runs the Trade Marks, Patents,
Designs and Copyright Licensing Bodies Registries, advises on policy and
legislation related to intellectual property protection, provides civil
intellectual property legal advice to the Government, and promotes public
awareness of and respect for intellectual property rights. |
