Hong Kong Service Suppliers ("HKSS") are allowed to set up joint ventures or wholly-owned enterprises, whichever is applicable, within the Mainland to provide the following types of TVA under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement ("CEPA"):
The classification of TVA is stipulated in the Telecommunications Services Classification Catalogue《電信業務分類目錄》("Catalogue") of the Mainland. A softcopy of the Catalogue (2015 Version) can be found at https://www.miit.gov.cn/jgsj/xgj/gzdt/art/2020/art_e6824c9e756c43f7be263a3fe78c36f0.html(Simplified Chinese Only)2
The basic qualification for application of HKSS with respect to TVA is that the applicant should have substantive business operational experience in providing one or more of the permitted types of TVA in Hong Kong for three consecutive years or more immediately prior to the submission of application.
Application should be made with the Trade and Industry Department ("TID"). For details, please refer to https://www.tid.gov.hk/english/cepa/tradeservices/hkss_def.html.
You need to provide two types of document: (a) one relates to the company’s corporate details in general; and (b) the other relates to telecommunications-specific information on the nature and scope of telecommunications services provided in Hong Kong. For offshore call centre services, only (a) will suffice.
For submission of information relating to the applicant's corporate details in general, please refer to Appendix 5 of the updated version of Notice to Service Suppliers posted on the website of TID (https://www.tid.gov.hk/english/aboutus/tradecircular/ntss/2020/ntss012020.html) for details of the documents to be provided.
For submission of information relevant to the provision of telecommunications service, the applicant is required to provide:
The Certificate of HKSS issued by the TID only certifies that you meet the qualification criteria for HKSS which entitles the holder to benefit from CEPA. You are still required to apply to the Mainland’s authorities at any time for the necessary licence or permit for provision of the permitted TVA within the Mainland.
Eligible HKSS who intend to provide the permitted TVA within the Mainland may refer to the following laws and regulations of the Mainland for the steps, procedures, timeframe for processing applications and relevant regulations:
For a comprehensive set of laws and regulations on the operation and provision of telecommunications services within the Mainland, please visit the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China: http://www.miit.gov.cn.
HKSS can set up wholly-owned enterprise to provide some permitted TVA4.
For those permitted TVA to be provided in the form of joint venture only, in addition to setting up "new" joint ventures, HKSS may also choose to form joint ventures through merging or acquiring the shares of existing Mainland telecommunications service providers. The licence registration held by the Mainland telecommunications service providers may require amendment in the circumstances to reflect the change. The shareholding of the HKSS's capital should not exceed 50%.
Information relating to professional qualification examinations in communications technologies can be found from the website of professional qualification examinations in communications technologies in the Mainland (Simplified Chinese Only)
You may refer to the following notification and application guidelines:
1 Call centre services include offshore call centre services. An offshore call centre is a type of international offshore outsourcing services under which a call centre platform is set up on the Mainland to provide hotline telephone enquiry services to customers outside the Mainland.
2 The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced in June 2019 an amendment to the Catalogue (2015 Version) adding a new sub-category namely "A12-4 the 5th generation digital cellular mobile communications services". The announcement is available at https://www.miit.gov.cn/zwgk/zcwj/wjfb/tg/art/2020/art_b6a54a60f9c6471cb3a996106fc09cd5.html (Simplified Chinese Only).
3 The State Council announced the “Decision of the State Council to Amend and Repeal Certain Administrative Regulations” in April 2022 and made amendments to certain articles of the “Administrative Provisions on Foreign-invested Telecommunications Enterprises”. The announcement is available at http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2022-04/07/content_5683886.htm (Simplified Chinese Only).
4 HKSS can set up wholly-owned enterprise within the Mainland to provide online data processing and transaction processing services (confined to operating e-commerce business only); multi-party communications services within the Mainland; store and forward services; call centre services; Internet access services (confined to provide Internet access services to users); and content services (confined to application stores only).