The Chamber submitted a 10-page paper to the Hong Kong SAR Government on July 25 detailing more than 50 outstanding issues and clarifications which the business sectors deem necessary on the CEPA provisions.

Many of the questions are from recent dialogues with members, some from local and overseas companies, and others are issues that members raised at the Chamber's own CEPA workshops. Some are on gaps that still need to be filled; some are for clarification of existing provisions; and others are regarding points not mentioned in the present text.

On trade in goods, the Chamber would like to support the government's intention to maintain, as much as possible, the status quo in determining rules of origin (ROO). Questions like if flexibility can be built to use 25 percent value added as an alternative to the current "principal processes" regulations, whether a "binding" COO determination for both the 273 items now and any further items can be sought, and whether a "Combined ROO" which takes into account the Mainland content of the product can be considered, were asked.

On definition of Hong Kong companies, the Chamber feels that there is some confusion between CEPA and the GATS provisions that requires clarification. In addition, further elaboration may be needed on defining "similar business" and the criteria of employment -- for example, whether other forms of employment like part-time workers, interns, contract workers, etc are counted.

The Chamber believes that the "Trade and Investment Facilitation" section could be the most significant section of CEPA in the long run if it can deal with the numerous problems of "investment climate" in China, ranging from cumbersome procedures, to non-transparency, to rampant fee collection, to customs problems, to commercial disputes, that plague almost all Hong Kong investments in China. The Chamber asked a series of questions to seek clarifications on how provisions in this section can ease the practical problems faced by many Hong Kong investors in China.