Obligations

Obligations For Permit Holders

Under the Chemical Weapons (Convention) Ordinance (Cap. 578), the operator of a facility to which a permit has been granted ("permit holder") has to observe all permit conditions. Major obligations of a permit holder include:

1. a permit holder is required to notify the Director-General of Trade and Industry ("the Director") in writing of any changes in information he previously provided for the purpose of obtaining and maintaining his permit; and to seek the Director's written approval before making any change to the activities of the facility if the activities concerned are subject to permit requirement. For facilities dealing with Schedules 2 or 3 chemicals, the request for approval should be sent to the Director in not less than 21 days before the changes take place. If the facility concerned handles or will likely handle Schedule 1 chemicals, the permit holder is required to seek written approval from the Director at least 220 days before any change of activities subject to permit requirement can take place. These requirements aim to ensure that the reporting requirement under the Convention will be met;

2. a permit holder should only be involved in activities regarding the scheduled chemicals for purposes approved by the Director in the permit. If a facility wishes to handle other scheduled chemicals not previously approved in the permit, or to put the permitted chemicals for use in purposes not previously declared in the permit application, prior written approval from the Director must be obtained. In this regard, the time frame set out in condition (i) above should be observed by the permit holder concerned;

3. a permit holder of a facility should report to the Director annually of the facility's past activities and anticipated activities in the manner as prescribed by the Director. Reports on past activities of a facility should be submitted to the Department by 15 January immediately after the end of that previous year in which the activities took place. Reports on anticipated activities of a facility should be submitted by 31 July immediately before the beginning of the next year. Any changes to the dates of submission will be announced in this website and through circulars. Please note that expiry or cancellation of a permit does not exempt a permit holder from the obligation to report to the Director the activities of his facility in the year during which the permit was still valid.

4. a permit holder should maintain records relating to his permit, the information he submitted to the Director for obtaining a permit and any other information as specified by the Director. Such records must be maintained for a period of not less than 3 years ; and

5. a permit holder should comply with the inspection requirements that aim at verifying, among other things, the accuracy of the information related to his permit and contained in the annual reports mentioned in condition (iii) above as well as any other information submitted to the Director as requested. Such inspections may be conducted either by officers of the Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department and/or the inspection teams of the Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW) established under the Convention.