RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/IT/SPEC/Q1/4
22 April 1998
(98-1631)
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade
in Information Technology ProductsOriginal:  English
REPLIES TO THE SURVEY
Communication from Hong Kong, China
The following communication, dated 9 April 1998, has been received from the Hong Kong
Economic and Trade Office.
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With reference to your letter of 19 February 1998 concerning the survey on certain
standards-related matters for information technology products, my authorities have asked me to
submit the attached reply to the Secretariat.G/IT/SPEC/Q1/4
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Return of Hong Kong, China on Survey on Technical Regulations
and Conformity Assessment Procedures for Information Technology Products
1. Does your government have mandatory techni cal regulations to ensure the safety of
information technology equipment?  If so, plea se identify.  Are these requirements harmonized
with IEC 950?  If not, please explain the current practice.
Safety of electrical products designed for household use in Honk Kong, including information
technology equipment designed for household use, is subject to the control under the Electrical
Products (Safety) Regulation (EPSR), which will be put into operation with effect from May 1998.
Relevant safety standards e.g., IEC 950 or other equivalent international and national standards are
acceptable.
In addition, the safety of information techno logy equipment to be connected to the public
telecommunication network is regulated by the relevant HKTA specifications.  Equipment complyingwith the IEC 950 is deemed to have met the HKTA 2001's requirements.
2. Does your government have mandatory technical regulations relating to electromagnetic
interference for Information Technology equipm ent?  If so, please identify.  Are these
requirements harmonized with CISPR 22?  If not, please explain the current practice.
For electromagnetic compatibility, the prevailing Telecommunication (Control of
Interference) Regulations are written based on the international CISPR 22 standard except that there is
no intention at this moment to take the part on interference immunity in CISPR 22, a compulsory
standard in Honk Kong.  In other words, equipmen t meeting the CISPR 22 is considered fulfilling the
electromagnetic compatibility requirements here.
3. What conformity assessment procedures, either in respect of the product or the
manufacturing process, does your government require for approval of information technology
products (including electromagnetic compatibilit y (EMC), electrical safety, telecommunications
and radio terminal equipment, and other areas)?
May suppliers perform these procedures (e.g. testing, declaration of conformity), or
must third parties perform these procedures?
What international guidelines or standards, if any, are those procedures based on?
Regarding electrical safety, suppliers are required under the EPSR to ensure that their
products are issued with Certificates of Safety Compliance before they can be put on sale in
Hong Kong.  As Information Technology equipmen t are non-prescribed products under the ESPR,
self-declaration of safety compliance from the manufacturers are also considered acceptable in
meeting the requirement.
Terminal equipment are categorized into either  single-line equipment or multi-line equipment
when they are connected to the public telecommunication network in the conformity assessment
procedures.
Under the current regulations, certification of single-line equipment is not mandatory.
However, to increase consumer confidence, manufacturers are encouraged to take the voluntary
compliance testing to ensure that their single- line products comply with the relevant technical
standards issued by the Telecommunications Authority.G/IT/SPEC/Q1/4
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For multi-line terminal equipment connected to the public telecommunication network, or
single-line terminal equipment connected to private leased circuit, mandatory certification is required
before it is permitted to be connected to the telecommunication network.
Manufacturers and suppliers are free to choose their agencies for the compliance test.  We
will recognize the test results if it can be demonstrated that the test is performed in accordance withour standards.  We have unilaterally recognized the evaluation reports done by accredited testing
agencies in OECD member countries and APEC  member economies provided that equivalent
standards are used.  Certificates will be granted by the Telecommunications Authority upon
application.
For the certification of radiocommunication equipment, the Telecommunication Authority
conducts its own testing (including testing on EMC, electrical safety and others) and certification.  We
also recognized the test results from testing agencies accredited by overseas administrations.  Typeapproval granted by overseas administrations will al so be recognized as long as equivalent standards
are used.  This principle is applied particularly to cellular mobile equipment in order to make our
type-approval process more efficient.
For non-communication equipment and commercial broadcasting receivers, the conformity
assessment with respect to EMC is not mandatory.  However, the EMC is taken into consideration ontype approving radiocommunication equipment.
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