HK-Oz FTA, investment pact in force from 2020

THE Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Investment Agreement signed between Hong Kong and Australia in March will enter into force officially on January 17.

The new deals, which cover trades in goods and services, investment, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, will provide Hong Kong investors with legal certainty and more access to the Australian market, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said in a press release on Wednesday.

“The commitments we made to each other far exceed our World Trade Organisation commitments, thereby enabling our goods, ser v ices and investments to enter each other’s markets under more preferentia l terms,” Secretar y for the Commence and Economic Development Edward Yau was quoted as say ing in t he release.

Yau stressed Hong Kong’s pursuit of free and open trade and investment and support for the rules-based trading system.

Against the prevailing uncertainties in the global economic environment, new deals provide high transparency and predictability for trade and investment, Yau was quoted as saying.

On trade in goods, all Hong Kongoriginating goods can enter Australia tariff-free and via simplified procedures immediately upon the FTA coming into force.

On trade in services, Hong Kong service providers are able to enjoy market access and treatment no less favourable than Australia’s local service providers. Professional services such as arbitration, conciliation and mediation services, business services, transport services, financial services and telecommunications services are expected to benefit.

As for investment, Hong Kong investors can enjoy more favourable access to the Australian market under the FTA. In particular, the monetary thresholds for investment screening in a number of sectors have been raised.

Other benefits of the FTA include facilitative arrangements for business travel as well as provisions to facilitate access to each other’s government procurement markets, effective protection of intellectual property rights and promotion of competition.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade notes on its website that the “agreements lock in openness to each other’s markets and leverages our deep historical links. The A-HKFTA complements the China-Australia FTA, and our other FTAs in Asia, including bilaterally with Japan and Korea, and regionally with Asean”.