Thanks to its special geographical location, historical ties, and support policies, Macau has become an important economic and commercial bridge and has played a role as a commercial platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PLP) over the years. This month, an amendment to the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) was signed. This amendment aims to reduce access requirements and facilitate the lives of Macau service providers in exploring the mainland China market, according to the needs of socio-economic development and sector requests, effectively promoting the connection between mechanisms and rules of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.
All Macau products that meet the CEPA origin criteria can benefit from duty exemption on exports to mainland China. In the last 20 years, the Economic Services Bureau has issued 8,660 certificates of origin, and about 1.5 billion patacas of products were exported, which helped companies save more than 95 million patacas in customs duties, demonstrating the success of CEPA.
However, according to some sector operators, CEPA contributes to the continuous deepening of negotiations between the two parties and the expansion of liberalization content, but in practice, economic and commercial operations face a series of obstacles, especially in the field of food imports.
Many Macau companies that intend to import food products from Portuguese-speaking countries and sell them to mainland China face limitations due to the origin of the products and the sanitary inspection regime. For example, PLPs have direct certificates of origin, allowing them to export products directly to the mainland without having to resort to Macau as an intermediary platform, which weakens its role as a commercial platform. This means that, in the long term, Macau will gradually lose its competitive advantages and development potential.
To avoid this possibility, Macau should improve the sanitary inspection regime, strengthen cooperation in cross-border inspection, and define more flexible and specific inspection and quarantine policies, especially for food products. The government should create a cross-border system for certification of origin and sanitary inspection, so that products processed in Macau can pass through mainland inspection requirements without any problems. I also suggest that the government negotiate with the Central Government to allow meat products imported by Macau to be processed in Hengqin, sold in the mainland, and enjoy the same treatment under CEPA. This can reduce costs and highlight Macau’s effective role as a commercial entrepôt between China and PLP countries.
At the same time, beneficial policies should be defined to encourage and support companies to participate in the trade of PLP products, through tax benefits, financing, logistics bonuses, etc., to reduce the costs of companies in cross-border trade. The government can also create, in cooperation with mainland China, an exclusive green lane for the import of PLP products, simplifying import and export formalities, accelerating the entry of Macau products into the mainland China market and increasing the competitiveness of companies.
