With the festive season just around the corner, I would like to wish all of you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We have attained tremendous successes in our work in the past year. These achievements are the results of your devotion, ingenuity and diligence.
Keep up the good work and let us look forward to another year of outstanding performance.
The 10th Regional Contact Points (RCP) Meeting of the World Customs Organisation (WCO)'s Asia Pacific Region was held in Hong Kong from October 23 to 26, 2000. The meeting was hosted by Hong Kong Customs in the capacity of the WCO Regional Vice-Chairman.
The four-day meeting was officially opened by Commissioner John C Tsang. In his opening address, the Commissioner pointed out that the new millennium, which saw the proliferation of transnational crimes, had brought about unprecedented challenges to Customs administrations. He emphasised that there was a need for Customs administrations to step up co-operation on a regional scale.
Under the chairmanship of Assistant Commissioner Lawrence Wong, 27 delegates from 16 Member Administrations and two observers from the WCO and Oceania Customs Organisation exchanged ideas on a wide range of Customs subjects. They considered, among other things, application of international instruments for trade facilitation, strengthening of regional synergy to combat transnational crimes, Customs mutual administrative assistance models, Customs strategies to cope with e-commerce development, training and technical assistance programmes and improvement of regional communication strategies.
The most important accomplishment of the meeting was the successful formulation of the Regional Strategic Plan (RSP) for 2001 - 2002. The RSP will serve as the blueprint for future Customs work in the region in both areas of compliance and facilitation.
Hong Kong Customs, as both the Regional Vice-Chairman of the WCO and overall coordinator of the RSP, will be taking the lead for RSP projects in a number of areas, for instance, work will be carried out in the next two years to enhance the enforcement capability of regional Customs administrations to combat transnational crimes, in particular, internet piracy and cross-border trafficking of dangerous drugs that are in the category of Amphetamine-Type-Stimulants and their precursors.
Commissioner John C Tsang, accompanied by Superintendent Tam Yiu-keung, paid a duty visit to the US and attended the 20th International Air Cargo Forum in Washington D.C. between September 23 and October 3, 2000. The Forum, held on September 29, is a biannual gathering of world experts from the air cargo industry organised by the International Air Cargo Association and this year's theme was "The Dawn of the Air Cargo Century".
In his presentation, the Commissioner shared with the 600 participants the Department's experience of building up a strategic partnership with the air cargo industry through the setting up of performance pledges, signing of Memorandum of Understanding and the establishment of the Air Cargo Customer Liaison Group.
In recognition of the challenge ahead from the increasing demand for faster delivery services, the Commissioner gave assurance that the Hong Kong Customs would continue to be committed to co-operating with the air cargo industry for greater trade facilitation.
The Commissioner also paid courtesy visits to a number of government offices and private organisations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and New York to brief them on the latest development of Customs work in areas of major concern. They included the US Customs, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Congressional staffers, the US Trade Representative Office, the State Department, the Commerce Department and various Intellectual Property Rights Associations, where the Commissioner met with appreciation of the enforcement work accomplished by the Hong Kong Customs.
The 2nd Meeting of the APEC 2000 Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) was held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam from September 16 to 18, 2000. Assistant Commissioner Lawrence Wong led a delegation of three members, Superintendent Alex Liu, Senior Inspectors Ho Fong-lei and Ma Siu-fong to the meeting. A total of 19 APEC economies attended the SCCP Meeting, which was also the last round held in Brunei Darussalam in 2000.
In the three-day meeting, SCCP members focused on monitoring the progress of Customs projects for trade facilitation and for improving Customs procedures. Priority was given to discussing the enhancement of strategic responses to meet the demands of electronic commerce, as such, a new collective action plan on "paperless trading" in the region was approved for implementation.
The Hong Kong delegation played an active role in this SCCP Meeting. We have secured the SCCP's approval for Hong Kong, China to host the Seminar on WCO's Guidelines on Clearance of Express Cargo Consignments in April 2001. We have also joined the Working Group on Integrity as the project's co-shepherd with Australia, as well as joining another new group to look into the issue of effective business out-reach. We would also co-operate with Singapore to conduct a regional survey on the use of the internet by Customs administrations of the APEC region.
The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, presented Customs and Excise Medals for Distinguished Service and Meritorious Service to six Customs officers at Government House on October 14, 2000.
Deputy Commissioner Raymond Li was awarded the Customs and Excise Medal for Distinguished Service in recognition of his 33 years' exceptional and distinguished service and contribution to the Department and the community.
The other five officers - Chief Superintendent Ronny Tsang, Senior Superintendents Wong Man-on and Calvin Leung, Superintendent Virginia Szeto and retired Superintendent Johnny Chow - were awarded the Customs and Excise Medals for Meritorious Service for their valuable service of exceptional ability, merit and exemplary conduct.
The United States Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the Patent and Trademark Office, Mr Todd Dickinson, applauded Hong Kong Customs for the significant efforts and resources that it has devoted to intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement and underlined the US hope that Hong Kong Customs will be able to sustain its vigorous anti-piracy effort at the same intensified level in the months ahead.
Mr Dickinson made the remarks when visiting Hong Kong on October 17, 2000 to update himself on the latest policies and enforcement action on IPR.
During his tour at the Seizures Identification Office in Chai Wan Government Logistic Centre, Mr Dickinson was given a briefing on the process of seizure identification regarding copyright cases by Assistant Commissioner Vincent Poon.
Mr Dickinson was also given a brief account of the work of the seizures identification teams on sorting and counting of pirated optical discs, as well as the examination of suspected infringing discs, including video CDs, music CDs and CD-Roms.
During the tour, Mr Poon gave assurance to Mr Dickinson that eliminating violation of IPR had been high on the Department's agenda. "We shall continue until we have seen the very small backside of the pirate sailing away from Hong Kong," Mr Poon stressed.
With the stepping up of enforcement action against smuggling and in protecting intellectual property rights, the number of cases effected has increased, resulting in a significant increase in the volume of seizure in recent years. This has created great pressure on the arrangements for proper storage and disposal of the seized items.
Under the guidance of the Seizure Management Steering Group and the Review Committee of Seizure Management chaired by Deputy Commissioner Raymond Li and Assistant Commissioner Vincent Poon respectively, together with the concerted efforts of all the Formations, we have achieved noticeable results in seizure disposal as evidenced by the charts showing the volume of three major items of seizure disposed of in the past three years.
Besides, more efficient methods for disposing of infringing optical discs (OD) and items of forged trademarks have been identified. Confiscated goods like wallets, sport shoes, garments, are now shredded mechanically instead of manually. A new contractor with powerful machines for shredding infringing OD has also been engaged. The shredding machine was tailor-made for shredding discs together with their packing materials including plastic bags and inlaid cards. All the plastic materials are then sent to factories for recycling. In our pursuit of efficiency, we are also concerned about our environment.
Speedy disposal of seizure could help achieve the following results:
Your effort in the seizure disposal process, no matter how trivial, has contributed to the remarkable results that have been achieved. Please keep up with the good efforts and your continuous support is essential to the attainment of the objective of early seizure disposal in order to achieve the above benefits.
The Department organised a Meet-the-Media Seminar for its officers on October 28, 2000 with a view to further improving their skills in holding press briefings and in dealing with members of the media.
During the seminar, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Apple Daily, Mr Cheng Ming-yan, and Group Head of Intellectual Property Investigation (Administration and Support) Ben Leung delivered informative talks to the participants and exchanged views of mutual concerns.
The Information Unit also gave a presentation and distributed handouts to the participants on tips and guidelines on holding press briefings.
About 100 officers, including Assistant Superintendents, Senior Inspectors, Chief Trade Controls Officers and Senior Trade Controls Officers, attended the seminar and all of them found the talks and the subsequent role-play session useful in enhancing their meet-the-media techniques as well as skills in preparing press and public statements.
As the Government becoming more open, transparent and accountable, there is an increasing need for our officers to explain publicly the policies and operations of the Department. Taking last year as an example, the Department held 123 press briefings on Customs policies and successful operations and arranged 64 press interviews. In the first nine months of this year, the Department held 134 press briefings, and arranged 45 press interviews. In view of the enthusiastic response towards the seminar, the Department is considering organising more such seminar for the officers in the future.
Officers of the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau (IPIB) smashed a clandestine compact disc (CD) factory disguised as a pig farm in Yuen Long and two CD storage centres operated by the same syndicate on September 26, 2000. The mastermind, six other men and three women were arrested during the operation. In the operation, the officers also impounded two unlicensed optical disc production lines and equipment, seized 230 stampers and about 160 000 pirated CDs, totally worth over $9 million. The great success in this case demonstrated the Department's determination in eradicating copyright piracy in Hong Kong.
The success of this operation attributed to the endurance of IPIB's intelligence officers, who had been on the lookout for two months, taking pains in mounting surveillance on all the identified targets of the syndicate. The officers made great efforts to tracking down the syndicate, from the retail level as their starting point and then traced the source of supply. It was not an easy task as the syndicate was so cunning that IPIB's investigators had their eyes wide open all the time. After two months' investigation, they finally discovered the underground factory that was built amidst a row of pig sheds.
Smashing this underground factory was no easy task, the officers had to investigate for a long time to find out its location and also had to find an observation post to monitor the syndicate's activities. As the underground factory stood at such a peculiar location, the officers almost found nowhere to establish a strategic observation post and knew it was a challenging job to out-smart this cunning syndicate.
The officers believed that there must be a way and were sure that it was not at all impossible. They studied the landscape very carefully and then decided to put themselves on the woody top of a nearby hill. There, the officers had to monitor the syndicate under the flaming sun and showers day by day. Yet, all these officers never grumbled and always stayed vigilant on the target. It is no surprise to us their perseverance finally paid off - the whole syndicate was neutralised in one go!
Entering into a new era of electronic age, everything is turning to computerisation. To keep pace with modern technology, the Office of Dutiable Commodities Administration (ODCA), with the assistance of the Office of Information Technology and the Information Technology Services Department, have developed a new Standard Valuation List (SVL) System to provide Duty Collection Officers with on-line access to enquire SVL directly from the ODCA sub-system of Customs Control System (CCS) instead of from the existing booklet.
Apart from assessing duty for liquor, the system also caters for other dutiable commodities like tobacco and hydrocarbon oil. Duty Collection Officers are only required to input the basic information into the system which will then calculate the amount of duty payable automatically. In essence, the system provides a user-friendly, fast and accurate duty assessment device for Duty Collection Officers.
Train-the-Trainer courses and work manuals have been given to officers of relevant commands. The implementation of the system will be officially promulgated in due course. We hope that Duty Collection Officers will enjoy the benefits of computerisation in the course of duty assessment.
We all feel the urgent need to learn, particularly in the face of rapid changes. Yet heavy workload and tight schedules mean that few of us could find time to attend training courses. But have you ever considered the option of self-learning by making use of the existing training facilities N the Self-Learning Centre (SLC) and the Trade Controls Resource and Study Corner. You can borrow or download learning materials from these training centres and learn anywhere, in the office or at home.
Located in Tsuen Wan, the SLC began its service in 1997. It aims to provide up-to-date facilities and resources that suit specific learning needs, whether it be the clarification of an ordinance or a reference to operational procedures. It also enables officers to learn at their own pace.
Learning materials in the SLC include Ordinances, Government Regulations, Departmental Orders, work manuals and more than 70 in-house training videos produced by the Training Development Group. You may study at the centre or borrow the required materials by filling out a loan form.
The Trade Controls Branch handles non-disciplined-related operations such as textiles origin investigation and factory inspection. The Trade Controls Resource and Study Corner (RSC) was set up in Mong Kok in 1999, specifically to meet Trade Control Officers' needs for professional development. It provides a good learning environment where officers can browse self-learning materials, multi-media packages, interactive CDs, videos, periodicals and other related references.
Apart from purchasing learning materials, the training centres also keep a large quantity of information and materials on officers' local and overseas training experiences. Under the Department's training policy, all officers have to submit reports after their overseas training courses or attachment visits. Training reports are available in either the SLC or RSC depending on the subject nature. Through these reports, the officers can learn from their overseas counterparts. Colleagues are also welcome to donate learning materials from their own collection or the training courses they have attended.
Besides the two learning centres run by the Department, similar services are provided by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute Learning Resource Centre at the North Point Government Offices and the Information Technology Services Department Self-learning Centre in Wan Chai. The former focuses more on the general learning needs of the civil service while the latter is committed to IT training. Their operating hours are flexible, colleagues can use the facilities on any working day during office hours.
The Civil Service Training and Development Institute Learning Cyber Learning Centre (CLC) operates round-the-clock for those who have access to the internet. It aims at helping all serving civil servants with self-directed learning and development. The major contents of the CLC website include management, languages, information technology, China studies and Government practices.
The Department intends to set up more learning centres and a feasibility study is under way. Plans include the setting up of new centres in the vicinity of different offices such as Sheung Wan, Kai Tak, Kwai Chung, Tai Lam Chung, Fanling and Chek Lap Kok. The opening hours will vary according to the working hours of the nearby office.
In addition to references of general interest, each centre will house specific materials according to the need of a particular office such as HK Case Law for the Prosecution Group, computer references for the Office of Information Technology, and accounting books for the Finance Investigation Group. We are also exploring the development of cyber learning for all colleagues.
We firmly believe that self-learning could enhance the performance of an organisation. The learning centres set up by the Department and other Government departments provide a venue for us to enrich our knowledge. Colleagues can contribute, donate, participate and more importantly share their initiatives.
Why not start setting your learning goals and planning your self-study today?
Referring to the article - Message from Mr Douglas Neish - in Issue No.11 of the Customs News, it is to rectify that the guest who attended the Opening Ceremony of the new Customs Marine Base at the Stonecutters in March 2000 was Mr Walter Neil instead of Mr Douglas Neish.
The successful interception of the "human cargo" container by Customs officers at Kwai Chung Container Terminal at 11.10pm on October 18, 2000 might have prevented a tragedy from happening.
Crowded with 26 Fujian male illegal immigrants, the 40-foot general-purpose container bound for Long Beach was poorly-ventilated. Imagine the two-week journey at sea from Hong Kong to the US, it was inconceivable that how such a large group of people, staying inside the container, could endure the terrible condition even for one single day.
During the operation, the newly procured carbon dioxide detector had performed its function and shattered the "golden mountain dreams" of the 26 illegal immigrants. When the officers used the carbon dioxide detector to conduct preliminarily test on whether there was human being hidden inside the container, the abnormally high reading of 2 200 parts per million (ppm) in a few seconds alerted the officers of the possible existence of living creatures.
This indeed provided a strong indication for the field officers to take intensive precautionary measures before the container was opened for detailed inspection. When the container door was partly opened, the officers found a person lying on the floor near the door through the gap. With the reinforcement of more than 20 police officers who later arrived at the scene, the 26 illegal immigrants were all arrested with no chance for them to put up any resistance.
The trafficker had modified the container with an attempt to get ventilation for the "human cargo". A total of six removable wooden planks were found on the floor. The trafficker thought that when such planks were up-lifted, they could provide ventilation for the people hidden inside. However, we were very doubtful whether such device could provide sufficient fresh air for the 26 people, especially when the container was loaded into the confined cargo hold.
The illegal immigrants were referred to the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau of Police for further investigation. They have been subsequently convicted and jailed.
To detect illegal immigrants hidden inside cargo container, the Ship Search and Cargo Command has early this year purchased five carbon dioxide detectors, each valued at $9,000. This easy-operated equipment is designed to measure the carbon dioxide concentration in a confined environment. In normal outdoor environment, the level of carbon dioxide is around 400 (ppm). In the event that people or living creatures are inside a container, they would exhale carbon dioxide and its concentration would be risen to a higher level depending on the number of living beings and the duration they stayed inside such container. The measurements could be obtained by inserting a sampling probe into the container for three minutes without opening the door.
Senior Inspector Chau Wing-kuen and I were nominated to attend the "Source Management Enhanced Stage Two Course" organised by the National Investigation Service, Her Majesty Customs and Excise in Canterbury, the United Kingdom between June 26 and July 7, 2000.
The course is aimed at providing participants with the legal and practical knowledge in the fields of informant handling, and enhancing their abilities and skills in the cultivation and management of informants. There were also four Informant Handlers from various operational units of the UK Customs, and one Informant Handler from the States of Guernsey attending the course.
The course comprised lectures delivered by experienced Informant Handlers followed by interactive operational exercises. The exercises commenced on the second day of the course and ran continuously through out the course.
The course adopted a "Learning by Mistakes" approach. Six participants were divided into three working pairs as Informant Handling Teams and one participant was assigned to play the role as Informant Controller. Every working team had to report the progress of their cases, dilemmas they had encountered, and to plan for the contingency. In return, participants, being closely observed by trainers, were given advices during group evaluation sessions.
The course was well-organised and informative. It succeeded in providing us with the necessary concepts, mechanism, knowledge and techniques in the fields of informant handling. Last but not the least, I would like to express my gratitude to the senior management for giving me and Chau Wing-kuen an invaluable chance to experience the western culture.
To further strengthen our enforcement capability against illicit fuel activities and prepare for the imminent passage of the legislative amendment to add the presumption on dutiability of fuel found in the fuel tank of vehicle exceeding the sulphur content of 0.05 per cent by weight, the Diesel Oil Enforcement Division (DOED) of the Marine and Land Enforcement Command (MLEC) has procured six units of Oxford Lab-X3000 bench-top X-ray Analyser in June 2000.
British-made and sold at $250,000 per unit, the machine is capable of analysing the sulphur content of a fuel sample within 50 seconds. With the detection limit ranging from 0.0001 per cent to 0.6 per cent, the machine is able to perform test to ascertain whether a fuel sample is higher or lower than the proposed standard of sulphur content at 0.05 per cent without any technical difficulty.
The machine is easy to carry with a dimension of 0.7 metre (L) x 0.5 metre (W) and is weighed about 12 kg. According to the supplier, the same type of machine is currently used by most of the major oil companies in Hong Kong. Our X-ray Analyser is the latest model of its series.
Although the legislative amendment bill is vetted by the Legislative Council in early November 2000, the machine has already been proven effective in assisting our daily anti-illicit fuel operations. This can be illustrated in the following case.
In mid-July, officers of DOED found an oil tanker supplying diesel to another vehicle in an open area. Upon interception, the driver of the oil tanker produced a receipt issued by a major fuel supplier to prove that the diesel had been duty paid. A sample of the fuel was then drawn for testing by the sulphur analyser. The result of analysis showed that the sulphur content of the sample was significantly higher than the standard of 0.05 per cent, which is indicative of the fuel being duty-not-paid.
After further investigation, the two drivers were subsequently charged with the relevant offences under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance. Had our officers not been equipped with the sulphur analyser, the suspects would then have been released due to insufficient prima facie evidence.
We are confident that with the assistance of the new X-ray Sulphur Analysers, our enforcement capability is further enhanced in terms of gathering evidence and prosecuting offenders.
The Trading Standards Investigation Bureau (TSIB) has been organising a series of talks for traders, in particular the retailers, on the safety requirements of toys, children's products and consumer goods under the Toys and Children's Products Safety Ordinance and the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance.
The first talk on toys safety requirements was held on October 15, 2000, with the attendance of about 30 staff members of a leading household commodities chain-store. Another talk was held on October 19, 2000 for about 60 management staff of a major department store.
The prime objective of the talk is to enhance traders' awareness of supplying safe toys, children's products and consumer goods and to ensure that they comply with the safety requirements under the ordinances.
Through comprehensive presentations and the subsequent question-and-answer sessions, the participants were briefed on the legal framework regulating product safety, the Department's enforcement strategies and their roles and responsibilities in connection with the compliance with the safety requirements under the ordinances.
The Departmental Swimming Gala 2000 was concluded in an exciting and cheerful atmosphere at Tai Wan Shan Swimming Pool on October 21, 2000. A total of 189 participants in 10 teams competed in 29 events. Despite the showers during the competition, all participants displayed the spirit of Olympic and performed brilliantly. And thus, nine new records were made.
Customs Officer Tam Chi-fai clinched the title of the Men's Overall Individual Champion by breaking three Customs Swimming Gala records. Customs Officer Chan Nga-man, who took part in the Swimming Gala for the first time, won the Women's Overall Individual Champion.
The Overall Group Champion trophy went to the Control Points Team. Only losing a few points, the Marine and Land Enforcement Team got the First Runner-up while the Second Runner-up went to the Intellectual Property Investigation Team. For the Invitation Relay, the Fire Services Department won the contest again.
Mr Johnnie Ng of Jardine Airport Services was re-elected as the Chairman of the Air Cargo Customer Liaison Group (ACCLG) for 2000 / 2001. At a brief ceremony on August 24, 2000, he presented the Best Service Award to nine Customs officers for their excellent services in air cargo clearance.
The Best Service Award is an annual event organised by the Airport Command in which customers are invited to vote for the best Customs officers for their quality services provided to the public in the three air cargo terminals, namely SuperTerminal One, the Asia Airfreight Terminal and the Express Cargo Terminal.
On October 4, 2000, with the beginning of the Kwan Dai Ceremony, Chief Superintendent (Airport) Maggie Kwok opened a new page for Seizure Billboard at the Airport Command. On that day, officers participated in the event joyfully to celebrate the detection of a number of significant smuggling cases by the Airport Command.
The prime objective of introducing the Seizure Billboard at the Airport Command is to commend those officers who have effected significant seizures or arrests.
Commissioner John C Tsang officiated the Commissioning Ceremony of two new Customs Patrol Launches No. 8 "Sea Fidelity" and No. 9 "Sea Reliance", totally worth $85 million, at Tin Hau Temple, Joss House Bay, Sai Kung on October 27, 2000.
Apart from representatives of the Department, other guests present included senior officers of the Hong Kong Police Force and the Fire Services Department, Mainland Customs officials, Customs Attachés, surveyors of the Marine Department, staff of the ship builder and equipment suppliers, retired Customs mariners and other dignitaries.
After giving a brief account of the ship building project, the Commissioner, accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Raymond Li, Assistant Commissioner Vincent Poon and Head of Marine and Land Enforcement Command Leung Ho conducted the Incense Offering Ceremony. All guests were then invited to tour the two new launches during which the operation of the advanced electronic equipment on board like the third Generation Thermal Image Surveillance System, Itemiser and Differential Global Positioning System and Chart Plotter were demonstrated.
The sea parade by eight Customs inflatable sea-riders brought the ceremony into its climax. First of all, with the assistance of the newly-designed Calay Davit System, two inflatable sea-riders (one of them was navigated by Woman Customs Officers) were unloaded speedily and safely while the two new patrol launches were in motion. They joined the other six inflatable sea-riders to demonstrate different squad patterns at sea. Finally, they formed an alignment and the officers on board saluted to the Commissioner and the guests.
The Customs and Excise Service Senior Officers' Mess held a "Disciplined Services Night" on September 15, 2000. The guests of honour included Commissioner of Police Mr Eddie Hui, Director of Immigration Mr Ambrose Lee, Director of Fire Services Mr Tsang Kwong-yu, Commissioner of Correctional Services Mr Benny Ng, and Controller of Government Flying Service Captain Brian Butt. At the function, Commissioner John C Tsang made a speech having a good sense of humour.