Bay area construction strengthened by Chinese government measures

The preferential policies and measures accorded to Macau by the Central Government of China will boost the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay, Macau Chief Executive Chui Sai On said in a statement.

He also said they would further facilitate the integration of Macau residents into employment, studying and housing, strengthening people, logistics and finance, and benefit the professional practices of Macau’s professional sectors.

“The Government of the Macau Special Administrative Region will endeavour to promote the implementation of preferential policies and measures, with the aim of contributing jointly to the development of the construction of the Greater Bay,” said the Chief Executive.

The fifteen policies and measures adopted by the Central Government are divided into policies that aim to benefit all Macau and Hong Kong residents and policies and measures to support the professional sectors.

These include the acquisition of real estate, means of electronic payment and the residence of foreigners holding Hong Kong or Macau permanent resident ID cards in the nine cities of mainland China that are part of the Greater Bay.

The Greater Bay Area is a city cluster formed by nine cities in Guangdong Province – namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing – plus the Hong Kong SAR, and the Macau SAR.  MDT/Macauhub

The 15 preferential policies and measures

I.    Policies benefitting members of the public

II .   Policies and measures supporting professional services

The facilitation of property purchases by Macau residents in mainland cities within the Greater Bay Area. Macau residents will be treated as local residents in purchasing properties in those mainland cities, without being required to provide evidence of their duration of residence, study or employment; nor to meet conditions on the payment of individual income tax and social security.

Enabling the use of mobile electronic payment by Macau residents on the mainland. Routes for this encompass encouraging and supporting development of e-payment options by commercial banks, payment institutions, and China UnionPay and its network entities. Using existing e-wallet platforms developed by mainland-based companies, there would be greater support for qualified Macau operators of e-wallet platforms to enable mobile payments. The same would apply to those payment-clearing institutions – based outside the mainland – that fulfill the necessary requirements.

Ensuring that children of Macau residents enjoy the same standard of education within the mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area as that offered to children of mainland residents. This measure ensures children of Macau residents enjoy public education services in pre-primary institutions, in accordance with regulations at their place of mainland residence within the Greater Bay Area. It also supports the creation of special classes serving children from Hong Kong and Macau. Children of Macau residents will be able to participate in the senior high school entrance examination for admission to senior high school in the relevant mainland cities, under the applicable local rules. This would be applicable to children who had relocated with their parents.

The exploration of the establishment of a cross-boundary wealth management scheme. Mainland people residing in the Greater Bay Area will be permitted to purchase wealth management products from banks based in either Hong Kong or Macao. Hong Kong and Macau residents will be supported if they wish to buy wealth management products in banks based in mainland cities within the Greater Bay Area.

The facilitation of travel – by foreigners holding Macau permanent identity cards – to and from the Guangdong cities covered in the Greater Bay Area. There would also be facilitation of a system whereby foreigners holding Macau permanent identity cards would be able to stay or reside in any of the nine mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. They would additionally be able to apply to the relevant mainland authorities for a visa – or permission for residence – with a validity of between two and up to five years.

The loosening of restrictions regarding importation of medicine and medical instruments to the nine mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area. Designated medical institutions operating in the nine cities of Guangdong within the Greater Bay Area are to be allowed to use medical instruments – where urgently needed – that have been marketed in Hong Kong and Macau and that are already in use in public hospitals in Hong Kong and in Macao. Such permission shall be granted by the Guangdong Provincial Government.

The loosening of restrictions regarding formation of partnership-based law firms. There is to be removal of the regulation that currently requires a Macau law firm to inject not less than 30 percent in a partnership association with mainland-based law firm.

Further extension of the scope of mutual recognition of qualifications. This would include enabling architects and structural engineers who are members of relevant professional institutes in Hong Kong to be members of corresponding institutes on the mainland.

The expansion of coverage of supporting measures for Macau professionals working on the mainland. Macau professionals in the fields of construction and engineering – who have professional qualifications that are either approved via the mutual recognition system or are based on examinations successfully completed on the mainland – already enjoy supporting measures if they perform work in either Guangdong, Guangxi or Fujian. The new policy enables such supporting measures to be extended to all places on the mainland.

The building of a Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation zone for science and technology innovation. The Central Government supports such development and there would be further supporting policies to facilitate the flow of talent, capital, goods, and information.

The facilitation of customs clearance of imported animal-derived biomaterials. There would be further measures to facilitate customs clearance – via simplifying the vetting process and shortening the processing time – regarding import of certain other biomaterials.

The relaxation of a limitation on export of human genetic resources from the mainland to Hong Kong and Macau. Mainland branches of Macau higher education institutes, scientific research institutes, and hospitals would be treated as mainland entities. Upon meeting specific requirements, they would be allowed to lodge applications for exporting human genetic resources to Macau under a trial scheme. Such applications would have to be submitted by the Macau SAR Government, and the Ministry of Science and Technology would have to be notified.

The introduction of favorable policies on insurance supervision. When mainland insurance companies reinsure to qualified Hong Kong and Macau insurance companies, a relatively flexible approach to credit requirements would be adopted.

The supporting of insurance-assessment institutions from Macau in establishing business on the mainland. The new measure would remove the eligibility requirement – regarding number of years of operating experience required – in order to enable relevant Macau institutions to establish business on the mainland.

The supporting of development of a bond market in Macau. Certain requirements would be further relaxed, such as grading, level of principal capital, and ability to repay in relation to establishment of special-purpose insurers by mainland insurers seeking to issue catastrophe bonds in Macau.