Chinese mainland, HK sign new supplement to CEPA

The Chinese central government and the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region signed here Thursday a new supplement to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), aiming to enhance trade and economic cooperation and exchanges.

The supplement, the 10th of its kind, was signed by Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan and Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang.

Supplement X to CEPA provides for a total of 73 services liberalization and trade and investment facilitation measures, which include 65 liberalization measures for trade in services and eight measures to strengthen co-operation in areas of finance and facilitate trade and investment of the two places.

Inclusive of measures in Supplement X, there are 403 liberalization measures for trade in services under CEPA.

In the regard of financial cooperation, the mainland agreed to actively study mutual recognition of fund products between the two places, and to actively support qualified Hong Kong insurers to take part in compulsory traffic accident liability insurance business in the mainland. Applications made by Hong Kong insurers will be actively considered and facilitation will be provided in accordance with relevant rules and regulations.

According to the latest survey released by Securities and Futures Commission, the combined fund management business in Hong Kong rebounded significantly to a record high of 12,587 billion HK dollars (about 1,622 billion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2012, representing year-on-year growth of 39.3 percent.

On legal services, Hong Kong law firms and Guangdong law firms will be allowed to enter into agreement under which Guangdong law firms may second mainland lawyers to work as consultants on mainland law in representative offices set up by Hong Kong law firms in Guangdong Province.

On audiovisual, the dialect version of motion pictures produced by Hong Kong and co-produced by Hong Kong and the mainland will be allowed to be distributed and screened in the mainland, after being examined by and obtaining the approval of the relevant authorities in the mainland, on the condition that standard Chinese subtitles are provided on screen.

Gao believed that CEPA, which was signed 10 years ago, has opened up new spaces and energy for both places. In future, authorities of both sides will study how to further enhance services liberalization and trade.

Tsang said CEPA has effectively fostered the economic cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland. As of July, 2013, Hong Kong products with a value of over 52.4 billion HK dollars has entered the mainland tariff free, saving more than 3.6 billion yuan RMB (about 588 million U.S. dollars).

CEPA, signed on June 29, 2003, aimed to forge closer ties between Hong Kong and the mainland. The pact covered three broad areas, namely trade in goods, trade in services as well as trade and investment facilitation. (1 U.S. dollar = 6.12 yuan RMB = 7.76 HK dollars)