Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)
February 13, 2009
What is CEPA?
The Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) is the first free trade agreement ever concluded by the Mainland of China and Hong Kong. The main text of CEPA was signed on 29 June 2003.
CEPA opens up huge markets for Hong Kong goods and services, greatly enhancing the already close economic cooperation and integration between the Mainland and Hong Kong.
CEPA adopts a building block approach, and the two sides have been working closely to introduce further liberalization measures continually. The agreed liberalization measures for various phases of CEPA are stipulated in the CEPA Legal Text.
CEPA is a win-win agreement, bringing new business opportunities to the Mainland, Hong Kong and all foreign investors. For Hong Kong, CEPA provides a window of opportunity for Hong Kong businesses to gain greater access to the Mainland market. CEPA also benefits the Mainland as Hong Kong serves as a perfect “springboard” for Mainland enterprises to reach out to the global market and accelerating the Mainland’s full integration with the world economy. Foreign investors are also welcome to establish businesses in Hong Kong to leverage on the CEPA benefits and join hands in tapping the vast opportunities of the Mainland market.
Implementation
CEPA covers 3 broad areas:
Trade in goods – All goods of Hong Kong origin importing into the Mainland enjoy tariff free treatment, upon applications by local manufacturers and upon the CEPA rules of origin (ROOs) being agreed and met.
Trade in services – Hong Kong service suppliers enjoy preferential treatment in entering into the Mainland market in various service areas. Professional bodies of Hong Kong and the regulatory authorities in the Mainland have also signed a number of agreements or arrangements on mutual recognition of professional qualification.
Trade and investment facilitation – Both sides agreed to enhance co-operation in various trade and investment facilitation areas to improve the overall business environment.
Source: Trade and Industry Department
The Government of the Hong Kong SAR
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Hong Kong – No. 1 freest economy
February 13, 2009
Hong Kong – Hong Kong was on Tuesday ranked the world’s freest economy for the 15th consecutive year in a survey by the US think-tank the Heritage Foundation.
Singapore was again ranked second in the annual study, followed by Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. The US was ranked sixth, one place lower than last year.
At the opposite end of the survey, North Korea was ranked the world’s most restricted economy, followed by Zimbabwe, Cuba, Myanmar and Eritrea.
Hong Kong scored 90 out of 100 in the rankings, 0.3 points more than in 2008 and some 30 points above the world average of 59.5 points.
Of the 10 individual areas assessed, Hong Kong ranked first in trade freedom, investment freedom and financial freedom and was in the top 10 for business freedom, monetary freedom and property rights.
The pro-free market foundation said Hong Kong was one of the world’s leading financial centres and said its regulation of banking and financial services was transparent and efficient.
Responding to the survey, Hong Kong’s financial secretary John Tsang said: “We are determined to uphold Hong Kong as the freest economy in the world.
“We see the role of the government as that of a facilitator. We can provide a business-friendly environment where all firms can compete on a level playing field.”
A total of 179 global economies were judged on 10 criterion, including freedom from corruption and labour freedom, to decide the Heritage Foundation rankings.
Source: SAPA
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NIGHTMARE parking problems
February 1, 2009
NIGHTMARE parking problems could come to an end as plans are put forward to build a commuter car park.
People living in Theydon Bois have not been able to park outside their own front door because of restrictions introduced to prevent commuters leaving cars in the area.
And commuters have been forced to drive into work rather than use the tube because there is nowhere to park their cars.
But a man from Epping could solve all of their problems with his plans to construct up to 280 spaces next to Theydon Bois tube station.
George Dilloway owns the former Old Forester Club land off Abridge road and decided the area would be ideal for a car park.
He said: “The council haven’t provided any options for car parking in the area and at the moment about 60 people are already dumping their cars there illegally everyday because there is nowhere else for them to go with all the double yellow lines. It’s a major problem.”
Mr Dilloway is hoping that Transport for London will agree to open up the entrance to the tube station to make the car park even more accessible for commuters.
He added: “If they expanded the entrance it could be on the same side of the road as the car park.
“It would also help ease the commuter problem in other areas like Epping where parking is also a nightmare. If you’re not there by 6.30am there’s no spaces left.”
The plans were welcomed by residents.
Clive Cooper from Theydon Park Road is unable to park his car outside his home because of yellow line restrictions introduced to stop commuter parking.
He said: “The restrictions prevent us from parking on our road between 10am and 11am. But that means I can’t leave my car there during the day because I can’t very well come home and move it during that time.
“If the car park solves the problem and means that these restrictions can be lifted then it’s a good thing.
“I can’t get the train to work at the moment and have to take the car, it’s nonsense. It’s affecting everyone and has caused so much disruption. Something definitely needs to be done.”
Alison Harvey from Cloverly Road in Ongar used to park in Theydon Bois before the restrictions were put in place.
But she was forced to use a friend’s driveway in Epping to get to work when the yellow lines were introduced.
She said: “I’m on maternity leave now but before I left I couldn’t find anywhere to park and had to use my friend’s drive. I didn’t want to do that forever and I was looking into somewhere else to park when I go back to work.
“It will be great if they do make a car park and will certainly put my mind at rest.”
But not everyone welcomed the plans.
A spokeswoman from Theydon Bois Action Group (TBAG) said: “The business plan for the car park is unsustainable, the car park would be of no benefit to local people, it is too far from the station and it will cause traffic problems on a dangerous stretch of the Abridge Road.
“It will not alleviate parking problems in the village as commuters will continue to park for free on our roads.
“It would have to be lit and the access road stretching uphill will cause a significant loss of openness on the Green Belt.”
People have until January 20 to submit an opinion on the car park application.
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Car Parking a ‘Nightmare’ for Hospital Staff
January 25, 2009
WORKERS at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary today claimed they were being threatened with £20 fines for parking in free spaces.
They will no longer be allowed to leave their vehicles in empty visitor spaces if the staff car park is full.
The new rules have left many employees fuming.
Elizabeth Lloyd, 57, a nurse at the Foresterhill site, said staff are being urged to use the park and ride scheme to get to and from work.
But she said this did not suit everyone.
She said: “The park and ride is useless for people doing early shift.
“I start at 7am and the first bus doesn’t get in until 6.50am – which is too much of a push.
“Also I can work until 10pm and the park and ride closes at 8pm. It just won’t work.”
There are currently 730 spaces for staff in the car park and 400 for patients and visitors.
The visitor car park at the hospital became free of charge on January 1 but there are 5,500 staff at the complex.
The Scottish Government told NHS Grampian to reintroduce free parking at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
The move followed a high-profile Evening Express campaign to scrap the charges.
Source: http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk
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Free Parking Comes at a Price
September 2, 2008
UCLA urban planning professor Donald Shoup says we have too many parking spaces in this country, especially the cheap and free kind. He argues that we pay the price for it in many different ways. Shoup’s point is made in a new book, The High Cost of Free Parking.
The Car Explosion
Coming to grips with the parking problem is essential because the rest of the world is poised to repeat America’s mistakes. America adopted the car much faster and to a far greater extent than other nations, and many factors help to explain this phenomenon — abundant land, rapid population growth, low fuel prices, and high incomes, among others. Abundant free parking also contributes to our high demand for cars because it greatly reduces the cost of car ownership. And because we own so many cars, we need lots of land to park them. We can speculate about the amount of land the whole world will need for parking if other nations ever acquire as many cars as Americans owned at the end of the twentieth century.
The first American gasoline car was sold in February 1896. By 2000, Americans owned 771 motor vehicles per 1,000 persons… Apart from dips during the Depression, World War II, and the early 1990s, ownership rose rapidly… In 2000, France had the same vehicle-ownership rate as the U.S. in 1972, Denmark the same as the U.S. in 1961, and China the same as the U.S. in 1912.
China is now the world’s fourth-largest market for new cars (after the U.S., Japan and Germany), but the U.S. still added more than twice as many vehicles during the 1990s (29 million) as China owned in 2000 (13 million). Other nations are, however, gaining on the U.S. Since 1950 the vehicle population has grown more than twice as fast outside the U.S. as inside. And yet, taken together, in 2000 the world outside the U.S. owned only 89 vehicles per 1,000 persons — the U.S. rate in 1920. But just as the U.S. vehicle-ownership rate doubled in the five years after 1920, rapid growth may also occur soon in other countries.
The 6.1 billion people on earth in 2000 owned 735 million vehicles. Imagine what would happen if all the countries on earth ever achieve the same vehicle-ownership rate as the U.S. in 2000: there would be 4.7 billion vehicles even if the U.S. population does not increase. A parking lot big enough to hold 4.7 billion cars would occupy an area about the size of England or Greece. If there are four parking spaces per car (one at home, and three more at other destinations), 4.7 billion cars would require 19 billion parking spaces, which amounts to a parking lot about the size of France or Spain. More cars would also require more land for roads, gas stations, used car dealers, automobile graveyards, and tire dumps.
If the past trends in vehicle ownership continue, the world will have more than 4.7 billion cars well before the end of the twenty-first century. Even if the vehicle population grows by only 2 percent a year, it will increase from 735 million in 2000 to 5 billion in 2100. Can the world supply all the fuel needed to power 5 billion cars? Will humans be able to breathe the fumes coming out of 5 billion exhaust pipes? And where will 5 billion cars park?
These questions are not meant to sound alarmist. A simple projection is often a poor forecast because technology and policy can change. For example, horse-drawn carriages befouled cities a century ago. In New York City in 1900, horses deposited 2.5 million pounds of manure on the streets every day. Projected growth in transportation demand made a publich health disaster seem inevitable, but then the horseless carriage solved that problem. Now, horseless carriages create their own problems, but new solutions will arrive. Improved technology will increase fuel efficiency and reduce pollution emissions, but technology alone is unlikely to solve the parking problem. Regardless of how fuel efficient our cars are or how little pollution they emit, we will always need somewhere to park them, and the average car spends 95 percent of its life parked.
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