China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan and Secretary for Economy and Finance of Macao Tam Pak Yuen signed a service trade liberalization deal under the framework of the Mainland and Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) on December 18, 2014, which will officially be implemented on March 1, 2015.

This is the first free trade agreement signed in the pattern of pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list with a wide coverage and rich contents. The text of the agreement makes principal stipulations on the application range, national treatment, reserved restrictive measures, financial prudential principle, telecommunication culture chapter, cross-border service, most-favored treatment, general exceptions and safe exception, government procurement, guarantee measures and investment facilitation. The appendix of the agreement includes two parts. The first part is on the reserved restrictive measures in the pattern of the negative list under commercial presence. Specific commitments are made to the 160 sectors according to WTO classification of trade in services. Except the listed specific restrictive measures, Macao service providers can expect the same treatment as companies from the Chinese mainland. The second part is on the new added liberalization measures in the pattern of positive list in cross-border services, telecommunications and culture sectors. At the same time, in order to encourage Macao citizens to start business in the mainland, more liberalization measures are made for individually-owned businesses.

The agreement has mainly four features. Firstly, the liberalization mode is original. Compared with the previous CEPA agreements, the newly signed agreement gives priority to the negative list, with most of the sectors promoted by the pattern of pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list and individual sectors still adopting positive list. Secondly, the liberalization covers more sectors with a high level. At least 153 sectors are liberalized, accounting for 95.6% of the total 160 sectors of WTO trade in services, 58 of which are expected to realize completely the national treatment; among the 134 sectors adopting negative list, 132 restrictive measures are reserved; 24 new liberalization measures are added to the sectors that adopt positive list; 84 more businesses are liberalized among individually owned businesses, totaled 130. Thirdly, the most favored treatment provided to Macao is further clarified through the agreement, and in the future, all the liberalization measures that are superior to CEPA in the free trade agreements between the mainland and other countries and regions will be applicable to Macao. Fourthly, market liberalization and reform deepening are promoted simultaneously. To practically implement the liberalization, related departments, together with Guangdong province, has explored to establish and optimize related supporting systems suitable to the management mode of negative list, which will provide system guarantee to the achieving of basic liberalization of trade in services between Guangdong and Macao.

After the signing of the agreement, the mainland will achieve basic liberalization of trade in services with Macao in Guangdong, accumulating experience for achieving basic liberalization of trade in services between the mainland and Macao, which will provide beneficial help to the diversified development of the economy of Macao, and will also bring new vitality to the economy of the mainland, benefiting the integration of the economy of the mainland and Macao.

Chief Executive of the Macao SAR Fernando Chui Sai On, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR Yao Jian, and Vice Governor of Guangdong province Zhao Yufang attended the signing ceremony.

(All information published on this website is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only.)