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Hong Kong and the Mainland today (February 9) signed a co-operation agreement on customs facilitation measures for wine entering the Mainland market through Hong Kong.
The Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau, and the Permanent Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Commerce, Industry and Tourism), Miss Yvonne Choi, witnessed the signing of the co-operation agreement by the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Richard Yuen, and the Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs, Mr Sun Yibiao.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mrs Rita Lau said that against the backdrop of growing demand for wine on the Mainland, Hong Kong's zero wine duty policy and favourable business environment helped create room for wine traders in the territory to tap the Mainland market. She also made reference to the large number of Mainland tourists visiting the city, who might buy in Hong Kong fine wines from different parts of the world.
She said that the signing of the agreement would enhance co-operation between the Hong Kong and Mainland Customs on wine-related matters, and fortify Hong Kong's position as a regional wine trading and distribution hub.
"We are very grateful to the General Administration of Customs for their support. The measures to be put in place will help enhance transparency and certainty in doing business, thus facilitating Hong Kong's wine traders who wish to expand their operations on the Mainland," Mrs Lau said.
The facilitation measures are open to registered traders. The Trade and Industry Department (TID) will handle registration for Hong Kong traders while the Mainland Customs will deal with the registration of Mainland traders. Participation in the registration scheme is voluntary.
Companies that have been set up in Hong Kong for no less than six months and are engaged in wine-related businesses (such as trading, storage and logistics) are eligible to seek registration.
The gist of the facilitation measures is as follows:
(a) pre-valuation of wine duty: registered wine traders may request Mainland Customs to do valuation of wine duty 10 working days before the shipment is exported from Hong Kong to the Mainland. When the shipment arrives at a Mainland boundary point, Mainland Customs will normally complete the procedure within one working day; and
(b) expediting the clearance process at Mainland ports: for registered wine traders who do not choose to make use of the wine duty pre-valuation service, Mainland Customs will strive to shorten the clearance time at the Mainland boundary points. For wines which have been imported into the Mainland before, with the submission of all the necessary documents, the clearance procedure will normally take no more than three working days. For wines which are new to the Mainland market, the clearance procedures will usually be completed within seven working days. If customs clearance cannot be completed within the said timeframe, the goods may still be released for sale on payment of a guarantee deposit. This enables traders to sell their wines as soon as possible.
The governments on the two sides will publish the list of registered traders respectively on their websites. Both the TID and Mainland Customs will also set up their own hotlines to answer enquiries from wine traders about details of the facilitation measures. Registered traders may also directly contact Mainland Customs through its hotline if their wine shipments encounter customs clearance problems on the Mainland.
The TID will announce details of the registration scheme through circulars and briefings later.
The facilitation measures are due to be implemented as a pilot in Shenzhen in the second quarter of this year. After trying out the measures for six to nine months, the two sides will review the situation and consider extending the scheme in phases to other major Mainland cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing.
Ends/Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Issued at HKT 18:11
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