WTO | Regional trade agreements

EFTA - Hong Kong, China

Basic InformationWTO Consideration ProcessRTA ProvisionsTrade-related dataRTA Changes

Agreement name:	EFTA - Hong Kong, China
Coverage:	Goods & Services	Type:	Free Trade Agreement & Economic Integration Agreement
Status:	In Force	Notification under:	GATT Art. XXIV & GATS Art. V
Date of signature:	21-Jun-2011	Date of notification:	27-Sep-2012
Date of entry into force:	01-Oct-2012	End of implementation period:	2012
Remarks:	Dates of entry into force: 01-Oct-2012 for Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Liechtenstein and Switzerland. 01-Nov-2012 for Hong Kong, China and Norway.
Current signatories:	Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Liechtenstein; Norway; Switzerland
Original signatories:	Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Liechtenstein; Norway; Switzerland
RTA Composition:	Bilateral; One Party is an RTA
Region:	East Asia; Europe
All Parties WTO members?	Yes	Cross-Regional:	Yes

Official Web Address

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China

Text of the agreement

Text of the agreement	E

Annexes & related documents

Annexes	E

Consideration status (G):

Factual Presentation issued

Consideration status (S):

Factual Presentation issued

Date of Consideration (G):

17-Sep-2013

Date of Consideration (S):

17-Sep-2013

Early announcement

Date negotiations commenced:	18-Jan-2010	Date of signature:	21-Jun-2011

Related documents

Document series: WT/REG322

Document type	Symbol	Language
Notification (G)	WT/REG322/N/1	E F S
Notification (S)	S/C/N/654	E F S
Factual Presentation (G&S)	WT/REG322/1	E F S
Questions and Replies	WT/REG322/2	E F S
Note on the Meeting of the CRTA	WT/REG322/M/1	E F S
Notification of changes (S)	S/C/N/654/Add.1	E F S
Notification of changes (G)	WT/REG322/N/1/Add.1	E F S
Notification of changes (G)	WT/REG322/N/1/Add.2	E F S
Notification of changes (S)	S/C/N/654/Add.2	E F S

Document type	Language
Factual Presentation (G & S)	E F S

RTA Provisions Glossary

For details on these provisions, please consult the Glossary.

Last modified on: 01/12/2017

Topics
	All tariffs eliminated at end of implementation by at least one Party
	Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ)
	All quantitative import restrictions prohibited
	Rules of Origin (RoO)
		Change of Tariff Classification Criteria (CTC)
		Regional Value Content Criteria (RVC)
		Other Criteria(s)
		De minimis rules
		Outward-processing allowed
		Cumulation among Parties
	All Export restrictions, including quantitative restrictions, prohibited
	Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO SPS Agreement
		Transparency obligations (SPS)
	Technical regulations, standards, technical barriers to trade (TBT)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO TBT Agreement
		Transparency obligations (TBT)
	Safeguard Mechanisms (Goods)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Safeguard Agreement
		Exclusion of an RTA party in global safeguard action
		RTA-specific safeguard measures always permitted
	Balance-of-payments measures (Goods)
	Anti-Dumping measures
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Agreement on Anti-Dumping
		Prohibition of intra-RTA Anti-Dumping measures
	Countervailing measures
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing measures
		Prohibition of intra-RTA countervailing measures
	MFN Clause/Preferences extended from other RTAs (Goods)
	Sector-specific chapter/section or other legal instrument (Goods)
	Services
		Negative list (Services)
		Standstill provision (Services)
		MFN provision (Services)
	Rendez-Vous/Review/Evolutionary clause (services)
	Investment Liberalization Provisions
		National Treatment with regard to the entry of investment (establishment)
		Investment liberalization
	Rendez-Vous clause (Investment)
	Provisions on capital transfers


	Domestic Regulation
	Mutual Recognition
	Balance-of-payments measures (Services)
	Subsidies (Services)
	Movement of Natural Persons
	Sector-specific chapter/section or other legal instrument (Services)
	General Exceptions
	Security Exceptions
	Accession
		Accession open to some third parties only
	Dispute Settlement (DS)
		Ad hoc Adjudicative Process
		Choice of forum
		Exclusive use of forum chosen
	Government procurement
	All Parties are party to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) at entry into force
	Intellectual property rights
		Copyrights and neighbouring rights
		Patent
		Trademarks
		Industrial Designs
		Layout-Designs (topographies) of integrated circuits
		Geographical Indications (GIs)
		Enforcement
	Competition
		Dispute Settlement not applicable (Competition)
	Provisions on designated monopolies or State Owned Enterprises (SOEs)
	Environment
		No relaxation of environmental laws
		Dispute Settlement not applicable (Environment)
	Labour
		No relaxation of labour laws
		Dispute Settlement not applicable (Labour)

Document title
EFTA
EFTA-Hong Kong, China (Services)
Hong Kong, China

Notification of changes

Parties concerned:	Hong Kong, China, European Free Trade Association (EFTA)	Changes affect:	Services
Date of signature of changes:	31-Oct-2017	Date of notification of changes	15-Oct-2024
Date of entry into force of changes:	01-May-2021
Remarks:	Notification of the entry into force of Decision No. 4 of 2017 of the Joint EFTA-Hong Kong, China Committee concerning amendments to Annex VII concerning Disciplines on Domestic Regulation. The original Annex VII of the Agreement provides that Hong Kong, China, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland shall continue to develop and conclude a set of comprehensive disciplines on domestic regulation for incorporation into the Agreement. Said disciplines have been agreed and replaced the text of Annex VII, with the new text applying to Hong Kong, China and Switzerland. The disciplines cover among others licensing and qualification requirements as well as procedures, technical standards, and transparency.

Related documents

Notification of changes (S)	S/C/N/654/Add.1	E F S

Notification of changes

Parties concerned:	Hong Kong, China, European Free Trade Association (EFTA)	Changes affect:	Goods
Date of signature of changes:	31-Oct-2017	Date of notification of changes	15-Oct-2024
Date of entry into force of changes:	01-Apr-2022
Remarks:	Notification of the entry into force of Decision No. 5 of 2017 of the Joint EFTA-Hong Kong, China Committee concerning amendments to Annex II concerning Processed Agricultural Products. Update of Annex II of the Agreement (Processed Agricultural Products) to reflect changes to the Nomenclature appended to the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), which entered into force on 1 January 2017.

Related documents

Notification of changes (G)	WT/REG322/N/1/Add.1	E F S

Notification of changes

Parties concerned:	Hong Kong, China, European Free Trade Association (EFTA)	Changes affect:	Goods
Date of signature of changes:	31-Oct-2017	Date of notification of changes	15-Oct-2024
Date of entry into force of changes:	01-Apr-2022
Remarks:	Notification of the entry into force of Decision No. 6 of 2017 of the Joint EFTA-Hong Kong, China Committee concerning amendments to Annex III concerning Fish and Other Marine Products. Update of Annex III of the Agreement (Fish and Other Marine Products) to reflect changes to the Nomenclature appended to the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), which entered into force on 1 January 2017.

Related documents

Notification of changes (G)	WT/REG322/N/1/Add.2	E F S

Notification of changes

Parties concerned:	Hong Kong, China, European Free Trade Association (EFTA)	Changes affect:	Services
Date of signature of changes:	31-Oct-2017	Date of notification of changes	15-Oct-2024
Date of entry into force of changes:	31-Oct-2017
Remarks:	Notification of the entry into force of Decision No. 7 of 2017 of the Joint EFTA-Hong Kong, China Committee concerning amendments to Appendix 1 and 5 to Annex X concerning List of Reservations and Commitments. Updates of Appendix 1 (first list of reservations of Hong Kong, China) and 5 (list of reservations of Switzerland) to Annex X of the Agreement (Lists of Reservations and Commitments for trade in services) to accurately reflect the description and measures (legal sources) elements of the reservation list entries.

Related documents

Notification of changes (S)	S/C/N/654/Add.2	E F S

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