Gov’t to expand Mainland market access via enhanced CEPA framework

Measures include applying national treatment to local suppliers outside the negative list.

Hong Kong will ease restrictions under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) to expand market access for service providers and strengthen cooperation with Mainland service sectors. 

Measures will include applying national treatment to local service suppliers outside the negative list, according to the government’s First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development released on 16 September.

The government said it will also seek to improve the Mainland’s commitments on cross-border trade in services under the negative-list approach.

In addition, it will prioritise the mutual recognition of rules and standards in areas such as trade, investment, finance, intellectual property, and digital governance,

Under CEPA, the city plans to align with international economic and trade rules and adopt an ‘early and pilot implementation’ approach in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to advance service-sector liberalisation.