Main Content

Ref. : GL 500

21 June 2004

To : Air and rail mode carriers
 known to the Trade and Industry Department

Dear Sirs,

Full Migration to Electronic Service for Submission of Air and Rail Manifests

Introduction

This circular letter informs carriers that all manifests for air and rail cargoes must be submitted to the Government through electronic means from 17 July 2004. Details of the full migration to electronic service for the submission of air and rail manifests and the arrangements for delivering the paper licences/notifications/documents which are required to be lodged to the Trade and Industry Department (the Department) after the full migration are set out in the following paragraphs.

Details

2.The services for electronic submission of cargo manifests in the air, rail, river and ocean modes of transport were launched on 11 April 2003. With the electronic services, carriers can lodge their manifests through Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited to the Department, along with submitting their manifests to the Customs and Excise Department and the Census and Statistics Department in one go. In order to allow time for the industry to get ready for the electronic submission, a transitional period has been provided during which the cargo manifests may be lodged in either paper or electronic mode. In view of the smooth run-in of services and the satisfactory take-up rates in the air and rail sectors, the Import and Export Ordinance (Specification of Ending Date under Section 42) Notice 2004 and the Import and Export (Registration) Regulations (Specification of Ending Date under Regulation 15) were gazetted on 14 May 2004 to end the transitional period for the electronic submission of air and rail cargo manifests at midnight on 16 July 2004. As the legislative procedures have been completed, only electronic manifests, instead of both paper and electronic manifests under the current arrangements, will be accepted from air and rail carriers from 0000 hour of 17 July 2004 onwards. In this regard, the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau has already issued a letter on 17 June 2004 to inform air and rail carriers of the full migration. The carriers concerned are reminded of the following arrangements for delivering paper licences/notifications/required documents to the Department after the full migration.

Arrangements for Submission of Air and Rail Manifests via Electronic Service and Delivery of Paper Licences/Notifications/Required Documents to the Department After Full Migration

3.The arrangements for the delivery of manifests using the electronic service, which are the same as those in our circular letter of 3 April 2003, are set out below for information :

1. for Restrained Textiles Export Licences, carriers only need to quote the licence number against the relevant consignment in the electronic manifests. The list of export licence numbers which carriers currently lodge with the Department together with their paper manifests will no longer be required;
2. for textiles notifications lodged electronically under the Textiles Trader Registration Scheme, the same arrangement under (i) above will equally apply. In other words, carriers only need to quote the reference number of the notifications against the relevant consignment in the electronic manifests;
3. for shipments covered by the Transhipment Cargo Exemption Scheme or the Air Cargo Transhipment Exemption Scheme for Specified Strategic Commodities, it is no longer necessary for carriers to deliver the through bill of lading or through air waybill to the Department. Carriers only need to quote their Exemption Number along the relevant consignment in the electronic manifests; and
4. when manifests are lodged electronically, carriers will only need to return the paper licences/notifications/ required documents they received from traders to the Department. To facilitate their submission, the form at Annex (pdf format) is prepared for their use. Carriers are requested to prepare the form in duplicate so that one copy of which may be returned to the carrier to acknowledge our receipt of the paper licences/ notifications/required documents delivered.

For the format of licence/notification/supporting document type number and the sample of the Annex, please refer to the guidebook on "How to Submit Cargo Manifests by Using Electronic Service" which is available at : http://www.info.gov.hk/cib/ehtml/pdf/gets/EMAN_Guidebook_(Eng).pdf

4.As the aforementioned full migration to electronic service for the submission of manifests will cover the air and rail cargoes only, carriers of other modes of transport who are not yet ready to lodge their manifests via the electronic service may continue to lodge their manifests in paper until the full migration to electronic service is implemented. All the current arrangements relating to the delivery of paper manifests to the Department by such carriers remain unchanged.

Enquiries

5.If you have any enquiry about the contents of this circular, please contact the following officers :

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Judy TING)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

c.c. Ocean and River Carriers, and Forwarders Known to the Trade and Industry Department
 Hongkong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics Ltd
 Hong Kong International Courier Association