First zero tariff HK goods under CEPA shipped to mainland ( 2004-01-07 21:08) (Xinhua)
Hong Kong company Wing Li Holdings Limited exported 235,212 HK dollars
(30,155 US dollars) worth of CD Recordable with zero tariff to the Chinese
mainland via Huanggang checkpoint Wednesday.
It was the first batch of made-in-Hong Kong goods with zero tariff to
the mainland under the Mainland/Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership
Agreement (CEPA) which came into effect on Jan. 1.
The zero tariff arrangement saved Wing Li about 12,000 HK dollars
(1,538 US dollars) from tariff.
Commenting on this historic shipment under CEPA, Chief Executive
Officer of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce Eden Woon said he
expected more companies would follow suit to take the advantage of CEPA.
CEPA, signed on June 29 by the central government and the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region government, covered areas of trade in goods,
trade in services and trade and investment facilitation.
On trade in goods, as of Jan. 1, 2004, goods of Hong Kong origin under
273 tariff items enjoy zero tariff treatment when coming into the
mainland. Zero tariffs will apply to other goods of Hong Kong origin no
later than Jan. 1, 2006.
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