The Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) provides a new facilitating certification service from 1 January 2011 allowing traders to enjoy tariff reductions under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) even if the goods between the Mainland and Taiwan are routed through Hong Kong.
Traders seeking tariff concessions are required to submit their applications with the relative shipping documents at least two calendar days before the ECFA consignments arrive in Hong Kong. Customs officers will apply a Customs seal on the ECFA consignment at the earliest opportunity when the carrier stops after entering into Hong Kong. If the consignment needs to go through a consolidation process in Hong Kong, Customs officers will witness the whole process.
The C&ED will issue certifications to prove the consignments meet the custody requirements of being routed through Hong Kong. Traders/forwarders may produce the certificates to claim the respective tariff reductions from the Mainland/Taiwan respectively.
The certification service is voluntary but fees will be charged based on the user-pay principle. For details of fee levels, please refer to the following website:
http://www.customs.gov.hk/en/trade_facilitation/ecfa/index.html
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