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Acting Deputy Commissioner of Hong Kong Customs and Excise, Mr Chow Kwong, and Deputy Director General of Guangdong Sub-administration of the General Administration of Customs, PRC, Mr Zhao Min, today (June 28) signed the ˇ§Memorandum on the Co-operative Arrangements between Hong Kong and Mainland Customs at Shenzhen Bay Portˇ¨ to strengthen co-operation and enhance efficiency on customs clearance at the new control point at Shenzhen Bay Port.
The Arrangements will take effect after Shenzhen Bay Port commences operation on July 1.
The Memorandum mainly covers the following items:
(1) Establish a ˇ§Customs Clearance Co-ordination Centreˇ¨ and an ˇ§Anti-smuggling Co-ordination Centreˇ¨ to respectively co-ordinate customs clearance matters on site and exchange anti-smuggling intelligence instantly;
(2) Mutually recognise the ˇ§Customs Green Sealsˇ¨ applied to inspected vehicles to minimise double examination;
(3) Exchange X-ray examination images on need basis to better utilise resources of both Customs; and
(4) Exchange information on passenger and vehicle flows, enabling both Customs to be better informed of the on-site situation of the other side. The sharing of such information will assist timely deployment of resources to ensure smooth passenger and vehicle flows and facilitate customs clearance.
Mr Chow said, ˇ§The signing of the Memorandum will strengthen our partnership with the Mainland Customs and expand our scope of co-operation at the Shenzhen Bay Port, with a view to enhancing customs clearance efficiency and suppressing cross-boundary smuggling activities.ˇ¨
The signing ceremony took place at the Shenzhen Customs Office Tower.
Ends/Thursday, June 28, 2007
Issued at HKT 19:53
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