Hong Kong passes bill for Huanggang ‘co-location’ arrangement
Upgraded border crossing will be the first to use a ‘joint-clearance’ model
Hong Kong’s legislature has passed a bill providing the legal basis for implementing a “co-location” arrangement at the upgraded Huanggang border crossing following a special, four-hour meeting, after the city’s security chief said it had to be approved by July 31.
The passage on Friday of the Huanggang Port Hong Kong Port Area Bill, gazetted on Tuesday, marked the fastest round of scrutiny since the Legislative Council’s 2021 overhaul under the “patriots administering Hong Kong” principle.
“Rebuilding the Huanggang control port will allow [Hong Kong] to align with the country’s 15th five-year plan,” Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung told the meeting, referring to the national development blueprint for 2026 to 2030.
Overall customs clearance times would fall from 30 minutes to just five minutes at the redeveloped crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, he added.
Tang said it would be the first boundary control point to implement a “collaborative inspection and joint-clearance” mode. Travellers will only be required to pass through one clearance point, rather than the current practice of separate counters for Hong Kong and mainland China.
He also stressed that there would be no shared or common database.