Hong Kong Customs ready for CEPA

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Hong Kong Customs ready for CEPA

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Customs officers are ready to conduct enforcement work concerning the Chinese mainland/Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), Commissioner of the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Timothy Tong said Tuesday.

During a visit to the Customs' Trade Inspection and Verification Bureau to review the department's preparations, Tong said, "Our preparatory work is thorough, and our officers are well trained to run the control system to ensure only those goods meeting the rules of origin under CEPA can enjoy zero tariffs."

To ensure those goods claiming zero tariff status under CEPA meet the rules of origin requirement, Hong Kong Customs and the Trade and Industry Department will jointly operate a control system complete with certification, factory registration, consignment checks, costing checks, investigation, and blitz checks.

Tong stressed: "Customs aims to strike a fine balance between law enforcement and trade facilitation. While taking effective enforcement action against any abuse of CEPA Certificates of Origin (CEPA COs), Customs officers are firmly committed to facilitating Customs clearance, without delay, of all goods eligible for zero tariffs."

Hong Kong Customs and the Chinese mainland Customs will exchange information in respect of origin of goods, authenticity of CEPA COs, and other information for enhancing enforcement control.

Tong believes that CEPA will be implemented smoothly, and Hong Kong Customs will effectively deter unscrupulous businesses which seek to avoid tariffs by exporting non-Hong Kong made goods under CEPA COs.

To guard against origin misrepresentation, Hong Kong Customs will deploy officers to conduct consignment checks against the applications for CEPA COs received by the issuing authorities, namely, the Trade and Industry Department and five government approved certification organizations.

Customs officers will also conduct in-depth investigations into those suspected cases of origin misrepresentation, and conduct blitz checks at the control points, based on risk assessment.

In the past few months, Hong Kong Customs has been working closely with the Trade and Industry Department on the implementation of CEPA. Frequent meetings have also been held with the mainland Customs, and this close liaison will continue as CEPA enters into force.

Becoming operational as of Tuesday, 55 officers are deployed to deal with CEPA-related matters. The department will review resources deployment including manpower after CEPA has been in operation for a while, or when the situation warrants.

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