While the department
focused much efforts on the fight against smuggling,
it also continued to give trade facilitation the highest
priority for greater contribution to the development
of Hong Kong into a regional transportation and logistics
hub in Asia. Hence, the department has constantly acquired
equipment and streamlined procedures in a bid to enhance
clearance efficiency and smoothen cross-boundary passenger
and cargo flows.
2. Starting from January 2004, the
Import and Export (Facilitation) Bill provides
for the relaxation of import, export and transshipment
control of nine categories of articles from the 31 categories
under licensing controls. The changes brought about
would not affect the fulfilling of HKSAR’s responsibilities
in respect of international obligations, public health
and safety, anti-smuggling and protection of public
revenue.
3. Except those specified by the department,
all air and rail cargo manifests must be submitted electronically
through the services provided by "Tradelink"
effective from 17 July 2004. Electronic submission saves
not only time and efforts on lodgement of cargo manifests
in person to different government departments, but also
space for storage.
Open Bond System
4. To facilitate trade through providing
a more flexible business environment for the bonded
warehouse operators and reducing the cost of Customs
control and compliance, a new Open Bond System (OBS)
was introduced with effect from 1 April 2003. Under
this new system, full time Customs attendance in licensed
warehouses is no longer required. Supervision of vanning
and devanning of dutiable goods and bond operations
is conducted on a selective basis. Traders are only
required to pay for Customs attendance on the destruction
of dutiable goods. The implementation of the OBS has
indeed helped lower the operating cost of the traders
and facilitate legitimate business activities.
A customs officer
is checking an export shipment of cigarettes
against the permit.
Facilitation Measure
for Cross-Boundary Goods Vehicles
5. The department has been making
optimal use of the resources during the night period
to facilitate traders by improving cross-boundary traffic
flow. After the introduction of additional vehicle lane
for clearance of goods vehicles between midnight and
7:00am at Lok Ma Chau Control Point in 2002, the daily
average throughput of goods vehicles rose significantly
from 1 028 in 2002 to 2 097 in 2003, representing an
increase of 104 per cent.
LED monitor giving
signal to drivers.
Automatic Vehicle Recognition
System
6. In order to speed up the clearance
of cross-boundary vehicles, the department has installed
and put into operation a total of 42 sets of Automatic
Vehicle Recognition System (AVRS) at the three land-boundary
control points since May 2003. With the AVRS, the department
is able to achieve higher accuracy in cargo clearance
and reduce the average clearance time for each goods
vehicle by three seconds.
Driver
submitting manifest.
Infra-red
cameras.
24-hour Passenger Clearance
at Lok Ma Chau Control Point
7. To cope with the 24-hour passenger
clearance service at Lok Ma Chau Control Point which
took effect on 27 January 2003, the department has created
21 posts accordingly to provide additional manpower
for efficient passenger processing.
Unified Road Cargo Manifest
8. Hong Kong Customs and the Mainland
Customs jointly designed a mutually acceptable paper-based
road cargo manifest for the convenience of cross-boundary
transportation industry and cross-boundary truck drivers.
The manifest has been put on trial for 12 months since
1 January 2004, during which members of the industry
only need to complete one set of manifest for submission
to both Hong Kong and Mainland Customs for clearance,
thus saving time for duplicate work. The usage rate
rose rapidly from one to two sets per day in January
2004 to more than 3 000 sets per day by December 2004.
Both Customs administrations announced the formal implementation
of the unified road cargo manifest with effect from
1 January 2005.
The
Unified Cargo Manifest Seminar was organized
on 28 October 2004.
Customs officer checking
the documents in the Kiosk.
Four
Additional Northbound "One-stop"
Private Car Kiosks at Lok Ma Chau Control
Point.
Extension of Operating
Hours at Kowloon Railway Unit
9. On 18 April 2004, the 11 and the
12 pairs of direct train started operation. The operating
hours of Kowloon Railway Unit was revised from 6:45
am - 11:00 pm to 6:45 am - 11:45 pm to enhance convenience
for cross-boundary passengers.
Four Additional Northbound
"One-stop" Private Car Kiosks at Lok Ma Chau
Control Point
10. On 12 October 2004, four additional
northbound kiosks at Lok Ma Chau Control Point commenced
operation for processing private cars so as to further
cope with the increasing cross-boundary vehicular traffic.
Unlike the operation of the existing kiosks, these four
additional kiosks provide "One-stop" service
of both immigration and customs clearance to outbound
private cars. To bring corresponding improvement to
the southbound traffic, four similar kiosks for processing
private cars will be installed by mid 2005 tentatively.
It is expected that the commissioning of the additional
kiosks in both directions will enhance traffic flow
through the crossing and on the approach roads.
Inside
the additional private car kiosk, Immigration
officer and Customs officer provide "One-stop"
clearance service to outbound private cars.
Green Customs Seal
11. To avoid duplication of Customs
examination so as to facilitate trade and speed up the
traffic flow at the land boundary, Customs on both sides
agreed to use a green Customs seal as a risk assessment
indicator that goods on board an incoming goods vehicle
have been examined by the other side. Hong Kong Customs
has begun affixing green seals at the three land boundary
control points from 15 November 2004.
Green Customs
Seal of Hong Kong Customs.
New Boundary Bridge
12. In addition, a new boundary bridge
with lane-changeover facilities to separate goods vehicles
and passenger vehicles has been constructed at the Lok
Ma Chau Control Point and has commenced operation on
19 January 2005. This facility helps solve the traffic
congestion problem at Lok Ma Chau and Huanggang Control
Points.
The new boundary
bridge at Lok Ma Chau Control Point.
DHL Central Asia Hub
13. To cope with the rapid growth
of express cargo volume and to strengthen Hong Kong’s
role as a regional air cargo and logistics hub, the
Airport Authority Hong Kong granted a franchise agreement
to DHL to develop a new express cargo terminal at the
Hong Kong International Airport in 2002. In June 2004,
a new express cargo terminal named DHL Central Asia
Hub (CAH) came into operation and adopted an innovative
Material Handling System in processing express cargo.
It is a self-handling express cargo centre which serves
the central Asia countries/cities and provides intermodal
transshipment services for cargoes of all modes concerning
air and land.
14. To increase the competitiveness
of Hong Kong in the express cargo industry and to cope
with the new operation mode at CAH, the department has
procured specialized equipment and upgraded the Air
Cargo Clearance System (ACCS) to strengthen and streamline
Customs control at CAH. With the introduction of the
wireless PDA in cargo clearance and the streamlined
procedures to issue consolidated cargo examination report
on working shift basis instead of consignment basis,
the department is able to provide more expeditious cargo
clearance at CAH.
Specialized equipment
was procured and the Air Cargo Clearance
System (ACCS) was upgraded to strengthen
and streamline Customs control at the
DHL Central Asia Hub.