The volume of trade between Hong Kong and the EU makes cooperation between their customs authorities very important to the facilitation of legitimate trade flows and the preservation of supply chain security. On 13 May 1999, the then European Community and Hong Kong, China signed an Agreement on Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters (CCMAA). See Official Journal L 151/21Search for available translations of the preceding link of 18 June 1999 for the text of the agreement.

The CCMAA, which entered into force on the 1 June 1999, was the territory’s first binding agreement on customs cooperation after the handover to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.
What the CCMAA covers

  • It provides a legal framework to promote supply-chain security and trade facilitation
  • It also aims to improve the fight against fraud
  • Seeks to improve cooperation on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR)

The Joint Customs Cooperation Committee (JCCC), meeting every two years since 2002, oversees the implementation of the CCMAA. Customs representatives and experts from the EU and Hong Kong discuss practical ways of working together to best implement the agreement.

On 1 July 2019 representatives of the European Union and Hong Kong Customs met to discuss the state of play and next steps of our bilateral customs cooperation. This was the eleventh meeting of the “Joint Customs Cooperation Committee” under the bilateral Customs Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement signed in 1999. Discussions focused on the implementation of our Action Plan on the enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, the possible prospects for the mutual recognition of Authorised Economic Operators, the fight against fraud and single window.