On April 6, the first batch of typical rule coordination mechanism cases in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) was released by the Guangdong Provincial Office of the Leading Group for the Development of the GBA.
There are a total of 20 selected cases, including eight about factors of cross-border flows, five about facilitation of people's livelihood, and seven about business environments.
“The first batch of cases involve the key policies that people in Guangdong, Hong Kong SAR, and Macao SAR have been paying the most attention to in recent years. They embody the fruitful results achieved by Guangdong province since the implementation of the outline development plan for the GBA,” said Zhu Wei, Deputy Director General of Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission.
According to Zhu, these cases are highlighted by great innovative efforts. For instance, the "Joint Inspection & One-time Release" mode was conducted for the first time at ports between Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR, and Macao SAR. And a pilot scheme was launched for the first time to allow practicing lawyers in Hong Kong and Macao to obtain qualifications and engage in legal practice in the nine mainland cities of GBA.
Improving people's livelihood holds the key to building a quality living circle for living, working, and traveling in the GBA as well as to advancing rule coordination in the GBA, such as the “Hong Kong and Macao Medicine and Equipment Connect”, “GBA Social Insurance Connect” and “Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect.”
More than 300,000 residents from Hong Kong and Macao are insured in Guangdong's social security system, while about 43,600 investors from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are benefiting from the “Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect” policy.
The first batch of cases also stresses the synergy with Hong Kong and Macao in key areas such as the coordination of civil and commercial rules, mutual recognition of standards, and the building of credit systems. For example, setting the “GBA standard” is an innovative measure for rule alignment. Also, Qianhai rolled out institutional innovation in cross-border commercial laws, which sets a very good example for promoting the high-level opening up of the legal service industry.
Next, Guangdong will continue to deepen the rule coordination mechanism together with Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR. An action plan for rule coordination in the GBA will be formulated first and a batch of major “GBA Connect” projects will be pressed ahead.
The province will expedite the implementation of the policy "Hong Kong Cars Going Northward", prioritize projects like “Social Insurance Connect” and “Talent Connect”, and further expand the coverage of special policies like “Hong Kong and Macao Medicine and Equipment Connect” as well as “Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect”.
In addition, it will also intensify efforts to make breakthroughs in setting unified standards, approval systems, and offices for the whole GBA as well as in promoting mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
Based on the three major cooperation platforms including Hengqin, Qianhai, and Nansha, Guangdong will make great efforts to raise the level of market integration in the Greater Bay Area and accelerate the development of the GBA into a world-class and the most advanced bay area.
