Submissions and Reports

The Chamber feels strongly about the need to scale up Hong Kong’s tax treaty network and has put forward a number of suggested jurisdictions in response to an invitation from the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau. With the recent lifting of Covid-related restrictions, we are hopeful that substantive progress would be made in the near term to engage the prospective jurisdictions.

As Hong Kong strives to return to normalcy post-Covid, the Chamber has submitted recommendations on the 2023-24 Budget to the Financial Secretary which called for measures to support rapid and sustained economic recovery, retain and attract talent and business, as well as maintain Hong Kong’s international competitiveness.

The Chamber welcomes the Environmental Protection Department’s consultation on the Specifications for Product Barcode and Designated Logo for Producer Responsibility Scheme on Plastic Beverage Containers (“PPRS”), and suggests that greater flexibility be afforded to the arrangements to avoid wastage or any unintended consequences of discouraging efforts to reduce plastic waste.

HKGCC raises concerns over the proposed guidelines as these were deemed to be impracticable, overly-intrusive, inflexible, and unnecessary.

The Chamber has submitted its views on “Assistance in promoting upward mobility of young people” to the Legislative Council Subcommittee to Study the Formulation of Long Term Youth Policy and Development Blueprint and attended the Subcommittee’s meeting with deputations and the Administration on 19 November 2022

The Chamber welcomes the HKLRC’s proposals to introduce a bespoke law that deals with the proliferation of cyber-dependent crimes given the risks of such illegal acts on Hong Kong’s businesses. The Chamber has also called for a balanced approach in the design of the new law so that other than the objective of protecting public interest, consideration should also be given to upholding business’ legitimate needs.

In anticipation of John Lee’s inaugural Policy Address, the Chamber has submitted recommendations on 9 key policy areas on which it feels the current administration should be focusing on as a matter of priority.

The Chamber welcomes and supports the ISSB’s initiative to formulate a comprehensive set of global sustainability disclosures to serve as performance guideposts for businesses, while providing consistent, comparable and high-quality ESG reporting designed to meet investor needs. However, questions over the approach to and with the proposed standards, such as the lack of clarity on when the ISSB will be fully quorate and the absence of the principle-based GRI standard, will have to be addressed before the new standards are introduced.

The Chamber supports the Government’s efforts to remove Hong Kong from the European Union’s watchlist by introducing changes to our FSIE regime while upholding the key principles of our taxation policy. However, more clarity should be provided on certain issues including the interpretation and application of covered income and economic substance requirement, as well as the eligibility criteria for the proposed participation exemption.