The Agreement on Trade in Services covers and consolidates commitments relating to liberalisation of trade in services provided in CEPA and its Supplements and also the Agreement between the Mainland and Hong Kong on Achieving Basic Liberalisation of Trade in Services in Guangdong.

Rules and regulations promulgated by the Mainland authorities relating to the implementation of commitments under CEPA :

• According to the "Implementation Details of the Provisions on Administration of International Freight Forwarders" (Circular of the Ministry of Commerce No. 82 - Jan 2004), international freight forwarding agency enterprises shall possess the enterprise legal person qualification of the People's Republic of China according to law. The enterprise's organizational form shall be a limited liability company or a joint-stock company.
• According to the "Provisions on Administration of International Freight Forwarders" (Decree of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation No. 5 - Jun 1995), the minimum registered capital for Hong Kong Service Suppliers (HKSS) setting up foreign-invested international freight forwarding agency enterprises shall be:
  1. at least RMB 5 million if they are operating international freight forwarding agency businesses by sea;
  2. at least RMB 3 million if they are operating international freight forwarding agency businesses by air;
  3. at least RMB 2 million if they are operating international freight forwarding agency businesses by land or international courier businesses.

• According to the "Implementation Details of the Provisions on Administration of International Freight Forwarders" (Circular of the Ministry of Commerce No. 82 - Jan 2004), the criteria for setting up international freight forwarding agency enterprises include:
  1. having at least 5 employees who have been engaged in international freight forwarding agency businesses for over 3 years; the employees should have their qualifications certified by their previous employers, or have obtained the qualification certificates issued by the Ministry of Commerce;
  2. having fixed business premises, and property rights certificates shall be presented in the case of self-owned housing and sites; in the case of leased housing and sites, tenancy contracts shall be presented;
  3. having necessary operational facilities, including a certain amount of telephones, fax machines, computers, short-distance transport tools, loading and unloading equipment, packaging equipment etc.;
  4. having a stable market of import and export cargo, which means that the amount of import and export cargo in the present area is relatively large, and the freight forwarding agency industry has the conditions and potentials for further development. The applying enterprise shall be able to get a sufficient supply of cargo as well.
• According to the "Implementation Details of the Provisions on Administration of International Freight Forwarders" (Circular of the Ministry of Commerce No. 82 - Jan 2004), enterprises shall also be able to satisfy the following requirements if multimodal transport business is included in the scope of international freight forwarding agency operations that they are applying for:
  1. Having been engaged in the relevant operations as listed in Article 32 of "Implementation Details of the Provisions on Administration of International Freight Forwarders" for over 3 years;
  2. Having corresponding domestic and overseas agent networks; and
  3. Having international freight forwarding bills of lading, which are registered and put on records at the Ministry of Commerce.
• For details, please refer to:
  • "Provisions on Administration of International Freight Forwarders" (Decree of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation No. 5 - Jun 1995)
  • "Implementation Details of the Provisions on Administration of International Freight Forwarders" (Circular of the Ministry of Commerce No. 82 - Jan 2004)
  • "Notice Concerning Delegation of Authority to National Economic and Technological Development Zones to Approve Establishment of Foreign-invested Freight Forwarding Agency" (Circular of the Ministry of Commerce No. 102 - Feb 2006) (in Chinese only)
  • "Circular of the Ministry of Transport on Matters Concerning the Implementation of Policies for Foreign Investment in Domestic Shipping Agency Business" (Letter of the Ministry of Transport No. 612 [2019] - Aug 2019) (in Chinese only)

Enquiries concerning the application procedures and requirements for the establishment of foreign-invested freight forwarding agencies can be directed to:

• The Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China
• The State Administration for Market Regulation or the local Administration for Industry and Commerce in the Mainland

• Frequently Asked Questions