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Introduction

The claim for CEPA tariff preference must be supported by a CO(CEPA) issued by the Trade and Industry Department (TID) or any one of the Government Approved Certification Organisations (GACOs). Application for CO(CEPA) should be submitted via the electronic services provided by the service provider. This Note highlights the information requirements specific for CO(CEPA) applications submitted through the electronic system. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is correct at the time of publication.

Completion of CO(CEPA) Application

1. General

1. CO Type and Declaration

   CO(CEPA) belongs to the Certificate Type "Certificate of Hong Kong Origin (CHKO)" in the electronic system and the service provider will provide the type "CEPA CO" to facilitate the trade" in making CO(CEPA) application. The exporter, manufacturer and subcontractor (if applicable) have to individually make the following declaration:

CO applications without the above declaration will be processed as applications for CHKO which cannot be used for claiming CEPA tariff preference.

2. Unique Certificate of Origin Reference (UCR) Number

Each fresh application will be assigned a UCR number of 14 characters/digits. Traders should quote this number as a reference in all future correspondence, such as sending message to manufacturer/subcontractor, and making enquiries. 

3. Submission of information in Traditional Chinese

With effect from 1 July 2006, Traditional Chinese input of the following fields can be directly performed through the services provided by the service provider ¹ . 

• exporter's name and address;
  

• consignee's name and address;
  

• notifying party's name and address (if applicable); 
  

• vessel/flight/train/vehicle number (if applicable);
  

• marks, numbers and container number (if applicable);
  

• description of goods (both the exporter and the manufacturer should ensure that the same description has been used in their respective messages else applications submitted may be rejected); and
  

• brand names or labels (if applicable)
  

Accordingly, the input function of the Supplementary Information (SI) through the Trade and Industry Department's Web Portal (TID's Web Portal) will be terminated and traders are not required to declare the declaration code "CHI" ² with effect from 1 July 2006 - 

To facilitate exporters in completing Traditional Chinese using the service provider's service to submit CO(CEPA) applications with SI made before 1 July 2006, exporters can input the "Transaction Number" of SI to review the Chinese information so inputted through TID's Web Portal. Such enquiry function will be lapsed after 4 months.

4. CO Approval Number

Provided no complication and no discrepancy, an electronic approval message will be sent by the issuing organisation to the traders via the electronic system. The message includes the response date and an approval number of 11 characters/digits.

2. Exporter Section

The information required in a CO(CEPA) application is basically the same as that in a CHKO application EXCEPT that the following information must be provided in the manner specified in parts 5 to 11 below.

5. Consignee's Information

Full name and Mainland address of the consignee must be provided. Besides, special request for hiding information of consignee to be printed on the certificate (i.e. Special Request Code: “502”) will not be accepted.

6. Departure Date

Under normal circumstances, the departure date should be at least 2 clear working days after the date of submission of the application. Also, it should not be later than the last day of the CO(CEPA)’s validity period of 120 days (i.e. date of issue + 119 days). Request for retrospective issuance of CO(CEPA) will not be entertained.

7. Mode of Transport

One of the following codes should be input:

Code	Mode of Transport in Chinese
1 - By Ocean	江 海 運 輸
2 - By Rail	鐵 路 運 輸
3 - By Road	汽 車 運 輸
4 - By Air	航 空 運 輸
8 - By River	江 海 運 輸

The corresponding mode of transport will be printed in Chinese on the CO(CEPA).

8. Port of Loading

"Hong Kong" should be input as the port of loading and "香港" will be printed on the CO(CEPA).

9. Port of Discharge

Traders should input the customs port code according to the port of discharging the goods (i.e. the customs port to which the Mainland importer will submit the claim for tariff preference). Please refer to the website of China Customs at www.customs.gov.cn for updated information on the codes.

10. Destination Country

“CN” (China) should be input as the destination country.

11. Goods Information

Information provided in the "Line Items" section must be identical to that in the "Product Descriptions for CO" section. Each CO(CEPA) application may contain up to a maximum of 5 product items (i.e. 5 Mainland 8-digit Harmonised System (HS) codes).

Traders should also note the following requirements for specific fields:

In the "Product Descriptions for CO" section:

• No. and Type of Package field

No. and type of package should be provided for each individual product item. Please refer to Annex I (pdf format) for the input codes and the corresponding Chinese descriptions of type of package to be printed on the CO(CEPA).

• Mainland HS Code

Traders should input the Mainland 8-digit HS code in the mandatory field “Mainland HS code” for each individual product item³. The Mainland HS code provided in this field should correspond to the Hong Kong HS code provided in the field "HS code".

In the "Line Items" section:

• FOB Value field

FOB (not CIF) value in HK$ should be provided for each individual product item.

In both the "Line Items" and "Product Descriptions for CO" sections:

• Quantity and Quantity Unit fields

Quantity and quantity unit should be provided for each individual product item in both sections. Please refer to Annex II (pdf format) for the input codes and the corresponding Chinese descriptions of quantity unit to be printed on the CO(CEPA). While the applicable quantity unit as used in the actual transaction can be declared in the application, exporters are advised to check the Mainland official quantity unit with reference to the applicable "Customs Import and Export Tariff of the People's Republic of China" which is available for reference in the Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs on M/F, Trade and Industry Department Tower, 700 Nathan Road, Kowloon.

3. Manufacturer Section

The information required in a CO(CEPA) application is basically the same as that in a CHKO application EXCEPT that the following information must be provided in the manner specified in parts 12 and 13 below.

If a subcontractor is employed to carry out the principal manufacturing processes or the entire production of the goods concerned under the Local Subcontracting Arrangement (LSA), the manufacturer should provide the subcontractor's information, including the subcontractor's name and address, the LSA approval number and the principal processes undertaken by the subcontractor. The manufacturer should also engage the subcontractor to endorse the information provided in the CO(CEPA) application.

12. Manufacturer's Information

Manufacturers should clearly state the principal manufacturing processes performed in the field "Principal Process(es) Done by Manufacturer and Outworker in HK". Where "change in tariff heading" or "value-added content requirement" is the origin criterion, it should be so stated.

If product development cost is included
in the Hong Kong value-added content of the CO(CEPA) application:

In addition to submitting either in person or by fax to the issuing organisation a proforma cost statement showing how the 30% Hong Kong value-added content requirement has been met, the manufacturer should make the following declaration under "Manufacturer's Declaration":

Code	Declaration
M16	I declare that the goods described in this manufacturer declaration have fulfilled the 30% Hong Kong value-added content requirement under CEPA and that product development costs are included in the Hong Kong value-added content.

13. Line Items

Information provided in the "Line Items" section should be identical to that in the "Product Descriptions for CO" section provided by the exporter.

Enquiry

Traders should approach the Factory Registration and Origin Certification Branch of Trade and Industry Department (tel. no.: 3403 6432/2398 5525) for more information on lodging CO(CEPA) applications, or the Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited (tel. no.: 2917 8888) if the query is relevant to the electronic system.

Factory Registration and Origin Certification Branch
Trade and Industry Department
May 2008 

¹Separately, to facilitate the trade, the services provided by the service provider will also support input of Traditional Chinese in respect of the following fields with effect from 1 July 2006 :
(a) "Supporting Document Remarks" and "Special Declaration/Statement" in CO(CEPA) applications; and
(b) "Request Reason Remarks" and "Supporting Document Remarks" in CO(CEPA) cancellation requests.

²The declaration code "CHI" means – "I declare that this electronic application and the supplementary information submitted through Trade and Industry Department’s Web Portal, if existed, using the same Unique Certificate of Origin Reference (UCR) number are correlated with each other and are used to support the CO(CEPA) application, and that the supplementary information will form part and parcel of the CO(CEPA) application."

³It is no longer necessary to input the Mainland HS Code in the first 8 spaces of the field "Product Description".