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Commerce and Industry

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

Hong Kong takes part in the Trade Committee and the Committee on Financial Markets of the OECD, which are important forums for discussing policies on international trade and financial services.

Free Trade Agreements

Hong Kong negotiates FTAs actively with foreign economies to secure more favourable market access for Hong Kong goods and services, thereby creating new opportunities for Hong Kong businesses and promoting free trade. The territory has signed six FTAs with foreign economies. This includes the FTA signed in 2019 with Australia, the fourth one signed after the current term of government took office. In addition, the Hong Kong-Georgia FTA came into effect in February, while the FTA between Hong Kong and ASEAN has been taking effect gradually since June.

CEPA with Mainland

The Mainland's economic and trade growth boosts Hong Kong's trade in goods and services. Both sides work constantly to broaden the coverage of CEPA, signed in 2003, and to deepen liberalisation in trade and investment. CEPA has become a comprehensive FTA, covering trade in goods, trade in services, investment and economic and technical cooperation. The Agreement on Trade in Goods under the CEPA framework was implemented from January. In November, the two sides signed the Agreement Concerning Amendment to the Agreement on Trade in Services to further liberalise trade in services between the two places.

Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements

Hong Kong has signed 21 investment promotion and protection agreements with 30 foreign economies to assure overseas investors that their investments in Hong Kong are protected and to enable Hong Kong investors to enjoy similar protection overseas. In 2019, Hong Kong signed such agreements with Australia and the UAE, and continued negotiations with Russia and Turkey. The agreement with Chile came into force in July, while the agreement signed in 2017 with ASEAN has been coming into force gradually since June 2019.

Trade in Goods

In 2019, the Customs and Excise Department carried out 28,388 factory and consignment inspections and concluded 203 investigations to ensure compliance with factory registration conditions and import and export licensing requirements. The department also conducted 48 blitz operations on consignments of goods at various import and export control points. It prosecuted 29 companies and three offenders successfully, leading to fines totalling $390,000.

Trade in Strategic Commodities

The Trade and Industry Department maintains a comprehensive law-based import and export control licensing system to monitor the movement of strategic commodities through Hong Kong. The department also administers a permit system for certain chemicals in order to implement the requirements under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Hong Kong works with its trading partners to keep abreast of international developments on strategic trade controls and to ensure its control arrangements are in line with international standards.

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