LCQ20: Regulating cross-boundary online shopping
************************************************
Question:
Earlier on, some Hong Kong residents were reported to have purchased prohibited articles, including smoke bombs, through Mainland's e-commerce platforms and delivered them to Hong Kong via cross-boundary transportation. There are views pointing out that such actions might have violated Hong Kong legislation, and that the importation of dangerous goods such as smoke bombs also poses potential risks to public safety. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the total volume of freight imported from the Mainland to Hong Kong through land boundary control points (BCPs) over the past five years; the average number and proportion of such imported items inspected by the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) per day, as well as the inspection methods and risk assessment criteria involved;
(2) of the number of cases detected by the C&ED at land BCPs involving the importation of prohibited articles through postal parcel and express courier channels in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by type of prohibited articles (e.g. foodstuffs, weapons, explosives, dangerous drugs, plants and animals, etc);
(3) of the joint enforcement operations undertaken by the Government and the relevant Mainland authorities to combat cross-boundary online purchase of prohibited articles over the past three years; the future enforcement direction of the relevant government departments, as well as the measures in place to step up enforcement;
(4) whether it will consider establishing a co-operation mechanism with the relevant Mainland authorities to strengthen controls over imported items, including requiring cross-boundary e-commerce platform merchants to declare accurate and detailed product information for the purpose of customs clearance, as well as setting up a "pop-up window for Hong Kong's prohibited articles" on checkout pages or product display pages, and providing a clear list of prohibited articles; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(5) whether it will consider further enhancing the Smart Customs system, increasing the proportion of random checks on suspicious parcels, raising the number of Customs Detector Dogs performing duties at the BCPs, as well as adopting other appropriate measures to enhance the C&ED's capability to intercept prohibited articles at the BCPs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(6) whether it will consider clarifying the legal responsibilities of all parties involved in cross-boundary online purchase of prohibited articles by way of enactment of legislation, legislative amendments or alternative means, in order to plug the existing loopholes in law enforcement; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
As the consumer demand for non-local commodities is rising and supporting services such as payment and logistics are becoming more comprehensive and efficient, cross-border online shopping becomes increasingly popular. There are strict regulations in Hong Kong on the import and export of all prohibited/controlled items, with different legislation in place to control and regulate such items like dangerous drugs, weapons, controlled chemicals, food, animals and plants, etc. These regulations are applicable to all modes of import and export, including items purchased through cross-border electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms. For instance, under the Import and Export Ordinance (Cap. 60), import or export of all controlled items must be accompanied by a valid licence or permit issued by the relevant authorities. Any person who brings any controlled item into/out of Hong Kong (whether by person, by post, or through purchasing agents or consolidated consignments) without a valid licence or permit may be prosecuted, in addition to confiscation of the subject item.
Having consulted the Security Bureau and the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED), the reply to the six parts of the question is as follows:
(1) The total cargo volume imported from the Mainland to Hong Kong via land boundary control points from 2020 to 2024 is as follows:
| Year | Total cargo volume (thousand tonnes) |
| 2020 | 12 425 |
| 2021 | 13 567 |
| 2022 | 6 905 |
| 2023 | 11 022 |
| 2024 | 13 174 |
The C&ED has all along been applying risk assessment and intelligence analysis, and maintaining close intelligence exchange with the Mainland law enforcement agencies to combat cross-boundary smuggling activities. Apart from reviewing relevant documents (such as manifests, advance cargo information, etc) and conducting risk management on all cargoes importing into and exporting from Hong Kong through land boundary control points for selecting suspicious cargoes for inspection (via scanning by X-ray checker and ion scanner, open examination and sniffing by Customs detector dogs, etc), the C&ED flexibly deploys its internal resources to mount targeted anti-smuggling operations in a timely manner to prevent prohibited articles or controlled items from importing into and exporting out of Hong Kong illegally. The C&ED does not maintain daily average figures of the import cargoes inspected.
(2) The number of smuggling cases (via cargo mode) detected by the C&ED at land boundary control points from 2020 to 2024 is as follows:
| Year | Total number of cases |
| 2020 | 425 |
| 2021 | 580 |
| 2022 | 336 |
| 2023 | 337 |
| 2024 | 391 |
The detailed figures by the types of major items seized are at Annex.
(3), (4) and (6) The C&ED makes use of enforcement strategies of risk management, intelligence exchange and analysis to combat the illegal imports of various types of prohibited articles. Customs officers conduct checking and clearance on passengers, cargoes and conveyances at various control points, and mount joint enforcement actions with the Mainland Customs from time to time to combat cross-boundary smuggling activities of various articles.
The Customs authorities of the Mainland and Hong Kong have established an information sharing and co-ordination mechanism at land boundary control points, including the signing of the memorandum regarding the point-to-point express co-operation and liaison between Shenzhen and Hong Kong Land Boundary Control Points with the Shenzhen customs authority to deepen mutual exchange and co-operation. The C&ED will continue to work closely with relevant Mainland authorities and other government departments to strengthen intelligence exchange and conduct joint enforcement actions in a timely manner with a view to enhancing enforcement effectiveness. Besides, the C&ED introduces and applies various types of advanced inspection equipment (including X-ray checker, ion scanner and Raman spectrometer) to enhance detection capability for various types of prohibited articles and clearance efficiency.
In addition, the C&ED has established a communication mechanism with non-local cross-border e-commerce platforms for dedicated staff to conduct exchanges and step up compliance promotion, including explaining to the platforms the regulatory and import control requirements of various items under the relevant Hong Kong legislation, as well as requiring strict compliance with the laws of Hong Kong for all the imports of controlled items.
(5) The C&ED has been taking forward the Smart Customs development to enhance clearance efficiency through making use of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics, and has deployed advanced inspection equipment (such as computed tomography scanners with AI functions, auto-detection devices for X-ray checkers, Smart Under Vehicle Robots, Platform for X-ray Image Evaluation, Vehicle Inspection and Strategic Analysis System, etc) to assist in risk analysis. At the same time, the C&ED will flexibly deploy manpower and detector dogs at boundary control points to conduct inspections and clearance of passengers, cargoes, and vehicles based on risk assessment.
Ends/Thursday, September 25, 2025
Issued at HKT 14:22
Issued at HKT 14:22
NNNN