Michael David Cartland

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Michael David Cartland OBE (Chinese: 簡德倫; born 8 October 1945) is a Hong Kong-based consultant and former government official. He served as Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services during British rule in the 1990s.

Cartland’s career in Hong Kong began with shaping trade policy in the 1980s. He became Hong Kong’s first Permanent Representative to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) when Hong Kong joined as a full member in 1986. He played a leading role in the Uruguay Round, chairing the Negotiating Group on Subsidies and Countervail, and later chaired many GATT and WTO panels from 1986 to 2007. He helped the WTO Director-General Peter Sutherland bring negotiations to close in areas such as Anti-Dumping, Safeguards, Intellectual Property, Government Procurement, and Subsidies and Countervail. Over the years, he chaired more than sixteen dispute-settlement panels in GATT/WTO processes, up to 2005.

In 1993 Cartland was appointed Secretary for Financial Services. He had to retire in late 1995 under localisation rules ahead of the 1997 handover and was succeeded by Rafael Hui. After leaving government, he and his wife Rachel formed Cartland Consulting Limited, a public-sector consultancy in Hong Kong. Rachel Cartland is a former Hong Kong civil servant (1972–2006).