The Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong Sunday reminded importers and exporters that the Hong Kong Collection Office for collecting paper import and export declarations will close on April 15.

"This is the final phase for the government's three-year program to migrate all import and export declarations from paper to electronic lodgment," a spokesman for the department said. From April 1 onwards, import and export declarations with shipments effected on or after April 1 will need to be made electronically and no paper declarations will be accepted. However, for declarations with shipments date on or before March 31, traders can still submit their paper declarations to Hong Kong Collection Office from April 1 to 14. "To avoid any inconvenience, importers and exporters are recommended to switch to electronic lodgment as soon as possible," said the spokesman.

Using the authorized service provided by the Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd, importers and exporters could lodge their declarations to the government directly from their office's personal computer from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The spokesman said that for those companies which are not yet ready to move to direct electronic lodgment, Tradelink has set up 27 service centers in Hong Kong to help importers and exporters convert paper declarations to electronic format.