Submissions and Reports

The Chamber welcomes and supports the Development Bureau’s proposed measures to update and streamline the Compulsory Sale Regime. While we believe this is in the right direction to expedite the pace of urban redevelopment and help address Hong Kong’s chronic housing shortage, we venture to suggest that there may be scope for further refining the proposals to ensure that the measures proposed are sufficient to induce market-driven initiatives for larger-scale and comprehensive redevelopment while taking into account minority owners’ interests.

The Chamber welcomes the Government’s initiative to update the Talent List to address Hong Kong’s acute talent shortage situation and sustain a competitive economy, and puts forward recommendations on the necessary high-skilled professions for inclusion in the same.

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.