***************************************
The implementation of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) has been exceedingly smooth since its signing a year ago on June 29, 2003.
"We are fully committed to helping Hong Kong businesses capture market and investment opportunities under CEPA. We will continue to work closely with our Mainland counterparts to be as business friendly as possible," a spokesman for Trade and Industry Department said.
The department has received 398 applications for Hong Kong Service Suppliers (HKSS) Certificates since October last year and 345 applications have been approved. Of the 1,207 applications submitted for CEPA Certificates of Origin, or CO(CEPA), since December last year, 1,118 have been issued, involving a total value of about $450 million.
"We originally expected some initial glitches at the outset. We did not have any prior experience and the timetable for us to get ready was too short and ambitious when compared with other free trade agreements. But problems did not occur," the spokesman said. "We manage to deal with the challenges successfully."
The department is able to meet its performance pledges to complete the processing of an application for an HKSS Certificate within 14 working days and to approve an application for a CO(CEPA) within 1.5 working days.
"With the agreement of the Mainland, from May this year we have been able provide greater flexibility to process applications from groups of companies that wish to apply for HKSS Certificates. Eligible companies engaged in substantive business operations in the form of groups of companies may now enjoy the benefits of CEPA," said the spokesman. "On the trade in goods side, we processed over 200 applications for the next phase of tariff eliminations in 2005, covering over 700 Mainland tariff codes."
The department is also the hub for disseminating CEPA information. Over 210 commercial information circulars containing Mainland business and trade information were issued in the past 18 months. A dedicated CEPA website (www.tid.gov.hk/english/cepa/) has been established and hyperlinked to about 110 trade and investment websites in the Mainland and other useful portals about doing business there.
Popular hotlines and email enquiry points have been set up. They are: general enquiries, 2398 5667 and cepa@tid.gov.hk; rules of origin, CO(CEPA) and factory registration, 34036432 and cepaco@tid.gov.hk; next phase of tariff eliminations, 23985676 and ma_registry@tid.gov.hk; and HKSS Certificates, 34036428 and hkss@tid.gov.hk.
"We are pleased that the website and the enquiry services are being well received by Hong Kong traders. The CEPA website has had over 630,000 hits and we have handled over 22,000 enquiries since September last year," the spokesman said.
To ensure that Hong Kong companies are familiar with CEPA, the department has organised or participated in about 130 seminars, briefings and workshops in the past few months to introduce the content and implementation details of CEPA to major local chambers of commerce, and to industry and trade organisations. Mainland officials were also invited to speak at the seminars to explain requirements in the Mainland.
Ends/Tuesday, June 29, 2004
NNNN
