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CEPA Covers 4 Broad Areas

CEPA covers 4 broad areas:

Trade in goods

273 classes of Hong-Kong-made goods can be exported to the mainland free of tariff. For other categories of ‘made in Hong Kong’ products, the mainland also agreed to apply a zero-import tariff, upon applications by local manufacturers for other product codes maintained on China’s tariff system and meeting the CEPA rules of origin.

Trade in services

To be entitled to the benefits of CEPA, a service company must have substantive business activity in Hong Kong by fulfilling all of the following criteria:

The company must employ 50% or more of its total staff in Hong Kong.
The company must be incorporated under the laws of Hong Kong.
The company must be liable to pay profits tax in Hong Kong.
The minimum period of the company’s substantive business operations in Hong Kong is three years, but for construction and real estate, banking, and insurance, the requirement is five years. Although the exact requirements for a company to be qualified to vary by industry, the assessment will be on a non-discriminatory and objective basis.

Investment

Hong Kong investors enjoy preferential treatment in non-services sectors in the Mainland. The Investment Agreement also promotes and protects investment, and provides for investment facilitation.

Economic and Technical Cooperation

Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in 22 areas to cater to the trend and support the development and cooperation, as well as to facilitate and promote trade and investment between the two places.

Deepening cooperation in economic and trade areas of the “Belt and Road” Initiative	Financial Cooperation	Cooperation in Tourism
Cooperation in Legal and Dispute Resolution Services	Cooperation in Accounting	Cooperation in Convention and Exhibition Industry
Cultural Cooperation	Environmental Cooperation	Cooperation in Innovation and Technology
Cooperation in Education	Cooperation in Electronic Commerce	Cooperation in Small and Medium Enterprises
Cooperation in Intellectual Property	Cooperation in Trademark and Branding	Cooperation in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese Medicinal Products Industry
Deepening Economic and Trade Cooperation in Pan-Pearl River Delta Region	Supporting the Participation of Hong Kong in the Development of Pilot Free Trade Zones	Deepening the Cooperation between Hong Kong and Qianhai, Nansha and Hengqin
Trade and Investment Promotion	Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine	Transparency
Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications