Aim

To secure and maintain the integrity and credibility of the various trade control and import and export control systems operated in Hong Kong in fulfilment of international obligations and for public health and safety reasons; as well as to collect import and export declarations and declaration charges under the Import and Export (Registration) Regulations (Cap. 60E) and clothing levies under the Industrial Training (Clothing Industry) Ordinance (Cap. 318).

Brief Description

The Department enforces the relevant laws for various trade control systems including those concerning the issue of Certificates of Origin, the import and export of strategic commodities, reserved commodities and other prohibited goods, as well as compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, with a view to preventing and detecting abuses of these systems. The Department is also tasked to collect import and export declarations, declaration charges and clothing levies and to enforce the relevant statutory control on these systems. The enforcement work involves:

• factory and consignment inspections to ensure compliance with legislation governing the issue of Certificates of Origin and import and export of other prohibited goods;
• costing checks on goods covered by Certificates of Hong Kong Origin – Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CO(CEPA)) to help ensure that only goods that pass a value-added percentage threshold can benefit from the tariff preference under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA);
• blitz checks on consignments subject to licensing control or covered by CO(CEPA) at entry and exit points and public cargo working areas;
• consignment inspections to ensure compliance with legislation governing the import and export of strategic commodities and other licensable items;
• inspections and verifications to ensure the effective implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention in Hong Kong;
• inspections to enforce control on reserved commodities;
• collection of import and export declaration charges and clothing levies under the respective legislation;
• verification and assessment of the values of import and export consignments to recover underpaid import and export declaration charges and clothing levies; and
• investigation and prosecution of contraventions.