The CFS will conduct special supervision on Hong Kong-manufactured food products exported to the Mainland to ensure compliance with relevant Mainland laws, regulations, and standards in food safety
Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) mentioned that the new measure of the Cooperation Agreement on the Supervision of Safety and Facilitation of Customs Clearance of Food Products Manufactured in Hong Kong Exported to the Mainland will commence on May 21. Upon meeting specific requirements, Hong Kong-manufactured food products with satisfactory on-site inspection of the Mainland Customs that are still required to go through sampling and testing can be released upon completion of sampling without waiting for the results.
The Environment and Ecology Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) signed the Cooperation Agreement on November 27 last year. This agreement provides a facilitating arrangement for customs clearance for food products that meet relevant requirements, to shorten the time required for customs clearance, further enhancing the safety of local food products exported to the Mainland, facilitating trade, and promoting the development of the local food manufacturing industry. The CFS and the GACC have formulated the operational details of the Cooperation Agreement, such as the food testing requirements. The CFS will conduct special supervision on Hong Kong-manufactured food products exported to the Mainland to ensure compliance with relevant Mainland laws, regulations, and standards in food safety.
“The Cooperation Agreement will aid the monitoring of food safety from the source for Hong Kong-manufactured food products exported to the Mainland, thus achieving the goal of customs clearance facilitation. Not only will this promote food trade between the Mainland and Hong Kong, particularly in the Greater Bay Area, but it will also deepen exchanges and cooperation in food safety monitoring between the Mainland and Hong Kong, fully implementing the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement and the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The smooth implementation of the new measure, the Advance Release Arrangement, is the result of joint efforts between the Government and the trade. The CFS has arranged briefings on details of the new measure for the local food trade,” the spokesman said.
