Source: Ministry of Commerce Website

Approved by the State Council, on the morning of December 14, 2018, Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy China International Trade Representative Fu Ziying and Hong Kong Financial Secretary CHAN Mo Po signed the CEPA Trade in Goods Agreement in Hong Kong. The agreement has started to take effect since the date of signing and will be officially implemented on January 1, 2019. The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam and Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Qiu Hong witnessed the signing ceremony.

The CEPA Trade in Goods Agreement is an important part of the CEPA upgrading and a special economic and trade arrangement made by the mainland and Hong Kong under the "one country, two systems" framework and in accordance with the WTO rules. It is an implementation of the important spirit of carrying out the high-level trade liberalization and facilitation policies, comprehensively advancing the mutually beneficial cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and supporting Hong Kong's integration into the overall national development proposed by the 19th National Congress, which fully demonstrates the central government's support for Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability. The CEPA Trade in Goods Agreement is the sub-agreement of the CEPA. It has accomplished the task of the CEPA upgrading together with the previously signed CEPA Trade in Services Agreement, CEPA Investment Agreement and CEPA Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement and realized the target of the CEPA upgrading proposed in the 13th Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule.

The CEPA Trade in Goods Agreement summarizes the contents related to trade in goods in the CEPA and its series agreements. According to the economic and trade development between the mainland and Hong Kong over the past 15 years since the CEPA was signed, referring to the latest developments and results of trade in goods agreements in international and regional economic cooperation and based on the full liberalization of trade in goods between the mainland and Hong Kong, the CEPA Trade in Goods Agreement further enhances the level of trade facilitation and provides more comprehensive institutional arrangements for trade in goods between the two sides. The key contents of the agreement are as follows. First, the rules of origin comply with international rules and meet the actual needs of Hong Kong. By combining the general rules for full tariff products with the specific origin rules for certain products, the origin standards for full tariff products are formulated, which makes the rules of origin more transparent and targeted, meets the targeted needs of the industry and helps maintain the stable and healthy development of Hong Kong's industry. Second, a special chapter for the facilitation measures in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was written. On the basis of the existing summary of the openness and facilitation measures and the actual situation and development needs of the economic cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong, a series of facilitation measures in the Greater Bay Area were put forward to promote the mutual recognition, information exchange, law enforcement and mutual assistance of Guangdong and Hong Kong ports, improve port clearance ability and efficiency and promote the efficient and convenient flow of the important factors.

The signing and implementation of the CEPA Trade in Goods Agreement will help maintain Hong Kong’s role of international trade center and shipping center, promote the healthy development of economic and trade exchanges and cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and achieve mutual benefit and win-win between the two sides.