CRC/C/CHN/CO/2 page 20 8. Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child 96. The Committee recommends that the State party extend the application of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography to the Hong Kong SAR. It further recommends that the State party ratify the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which it signed on 15 March 2001, and extend its application to the Hong Kong and Macau SARs. 9. Follow-up and dissemination Follow-up 97. The Committee recommends that the State party take all appropriate measures to ensure that the present recommendations are fully implemented, inter alia by transmitting them to the members of the National People’s Congress and the State Council on the mainland, the Executive and Legislative Councils in the Hong Kong SAR and the Executive Council and Legislative Assembly in the Macau SAR, and to relevant provincial or local authorities, when applicable, for appropriate consideration and further action. Dissemination 98. The Committee further recommends that the second periodic report and the written replies submitted by the State party and the related recommendations (concluding observations) adopted by the Committee be made widely available in the languages of the country, including (but not exclusively) through the Internet, to the public at large, civil society organizations, youth groups, professional groups and children, in order to generate debate and awareness of the Convention, its implementation and monitoring. 10. Next report 99. In light of the recommendation on reporting periodicity adopted by the Committee and described in the report on its twenty-ninth session (CRC/C/114), the Committee underlines the importance of a reporting practice that is in full compliance with the provisions of article 44 of the Convention. An important aspect of States parties’ responsibilities to children under the Convention is ensuring that the Committee on the Rights of the Child has regular opportunities to examine the progress made in the Convention’s implementation. In this regard, regular and timely reporting by States parties is crucial. The Committee recognizes that some States parties experience difficulties in reporting in a timely and regular manner. As an exceptional measure, in order to help the State party catch up with its reporting obligations so as to be in full compliance with the Convention, the Committee invites the State party to submit its third and fourth periodic reports in one consolidated report by 31 March 2009, the due date for the submission of the fourth report. The report should not exceed 120 pages (see CRC/C/118). The Committee expects the State party to report every five years thereafter, as foreseen by the Convention. -----