On September 18, Mainland Customs and Hong Kong Customs signed a supplement to the “Cooperation Arrangement on Customs Clearance and Tariff Facilitation Measures for Imported Wine to the Mainland via Hong Kong SAR”( hereinafter referred to as “the Arrangement”) .

3 improvement measures were agreed in the supplement to the Arrangement, which are as follows:

1) Procedures Streamlining

The Mainland Registered Wine Importer Scheme will be dropped and the Hong Kong Registered Wine Exporters Scheme will dominate.

2) Information Sharing

Hong Kong Customs will pass on to the Mainland Customs the export information that has been required to be sent by the Hong Kong Registered Wine Exporter as a record examined and kept by Hong Kong Customs.

3) Clearance Facilitation

Trusted Valuation Scheme will apply when Mainland Customs are exercising control over the imported wine via Hong Kong SAR.

In 2010, Shenzhen and Guangzhou Customs Districts started to give clearance and tariff facilitation for imported wine to the Mainland via Hong Kong SAR. By August 2014, 3.6017 million liters of wine with a street value of EUR28.869 million had been imported under the framework of the Arrangement.