Notifications for Hong Kong, China (18 notifications)
Hong Kong, China notified in G/SPS/N/HKG/50 dated 16 December 2024 a consultation document on the Proposed Amendments to the Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) Regulations (Cap. 132V, Laws of Hong Kong). The proposed amendments aim to keep abreast of international development on maximum levels (MLs) of metallic contaminants in food by adding twenty-seven new MLs for specified metal in specified food (food pair) and updating nine MLs for existing food pairs, with reference to latest standards of Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) and major food importing places. The proposed amendments were incorporated in the Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) (Amendment) Regulation 2025 ("Amendment Regulation") which was gazetted on 2 July 2025 and passed by the Legislative Council on 30 July 2025 after completion of the negative vetting procedure.This addendum notifies that the Amendment Regulation will come into operation on 5 September 2025. The commencement will be followed by the 18-month grace period, which will end on 5 March 2027. During the grace period, it would be legal for any single food item to comply fully with either the updated standards or the ones immediately in force before the commencement date. After the end of the grace period, the requirements of the Amendment Regulation must be fully complied with.
With a view to better protecting public health, facilitating effective regulation and promoting harmonisation between local and international standards, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region proposes, through legislative amendments, to update the Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) Regulations (Cap. 132V, Laws of Hong Kong). The proposed amendments aim to keep abreast of international development on maximum levels (MLs) of metallic contaminants in food by adding twenty-seven new MLs for specified metal in specified food (food pair) and updating nine MLs for existing food pairs, with reference to latest standards of Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) and major food importing places.
Hong Kong, China notified in G/SPS/N/HKG/48 dated 26 May 2023 a consultation document on the Proposed Amendments to the Preservatives in Food Regulation (Cap. 132BD, Laws of Hong Kong, China), which mainly involves updating the definitions of "preservative" and "antioxidant", the list of permitted preservatives and antioxidants as well as the maximum permitted levels of such permitted preservatives and antioxidants in specified food. The proposed amendments were incorporated in the Preservatives in Food (Amendment) Regulation 2024 ("Amendment Regulation") which was gazetted on 10 October 2024 and tabled in the Legislative Council on 16 October 2024 for negative vetting.This addendum notifies that the Amendment Regulation will come into operation on 30 December 2024. The commencement will be followed by the 24-month transitional period, which will end on 29 December 2026. During the transitional period, it would be legal for any single food item to comply fully with either the updated standards or the ones immediately in force before the commencement date. After the end of the transitional period, the requirements of the Amendment Regulation must be fully complied with.
The Food Safety Order prohibits the import into and supply within Hong Kong all aquatic products originating from ten metropolis/prefectures in Japan, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, which are harvested, manufactured, processed or packed on or after 24 August 2023. These include all aquatic products that are live, chilled, frozen, dried or otherwise preserved, sea salt and raw or processed seaweeds. The order takes effect from 24 August 2023.
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region hereby notifies that the final date for comments with regard to WTO Notification G/SPS/N/HKG/48 on "Consultation Document on Proposed Amendments to the Preservatives in Food Regulation (Cap. 132BD)" has been extended until 30 September 2023.
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region proposes, through legislative amendments, to update the regulatory control of preservatives and antioxidants in food, with a view to enhancing protection for consumers, promoting harmonization of local and international food safety standards, and facilitating the food trade. The exercise mainly involves updating the definitions of “preservative” and “antioxidant”, the list of permitted preservatives and antioxidants as well as the maximum permitted levels of such permitted preservatives and antioxidants in specified food.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of the Government of Hong Kong, China temporarily suspended the import of hamsters for commercial purposes on 18 January 2022 as a precautionary measure out of the risks associated with COVID-19. The Department has subsequently lifted the import ban on 13 January 2023 after reviewing the risks in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.
A number of human COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong, China were found to be linked to hamsters tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus. Epidemiological investigation as well as viral sequencing suggest that hamsters, which were previously imported into Hong Kong, China, are the source of human infection. Commercial imports of live rodents and lagomorphs into Hong Kong, China were temporarily suspended between 18 January 2022 and 31 March 2022 for precautionary purpose. This emergency measure was adjusted from 1 April 2022 to cover only the temporary suspension of commercial imports of live hamsters.
The fourth sentence should read: "The two Amendment Regulations were gazetted on 11 June 2021 and approved by the Legislative Council on 14 July 2021."
Hong Kong, China notified in G/SPS/N/HKG/45 dated 11 December 2020 a consultation document on the Proposed Amendments to the Harmful Substances in Food Regulations (Cap. 132AF, Laws of Hong Kong), setting out updated standards for various harmful substances in food. The proposed amendments were incorporated in the Harmful Substances in Food (Amendment) Regulation 2021. To align with the updated standards, the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment) Regulation 2021 (Cap. 132W, Laws of Hong Kong) was also made to provide for the marking and labelling requirement for prepackaged foods containing hydrogenated oil. The two Amendment Regulations were gazetted on 11 June 2021 and approved by the Legislative Council on 14 July 2021. This addendum notifies that, upon the end of the grace periods provided for in the Amendment Regulations, the provisions relating to hydrogenated oil and the related marking and labelling requirement will enter into force on 1 December 2023, and the rest will come into operation on 1 June 2023.
An amendment to the testing requirements for equine piroplasmosis, which requires two of the OIE manual recommended serological tests for international trade (the IFAT and cELISA) to be carried out during pre-export isolation for horses to be permanently imported into Hong Kong, China.
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region proposes, through legislative amendments, to update and strengthen the regulatory control of harmful substances in food, namely three types of mycotoxins, five types of other harmful substances in specified food groups (including edible fats and oils, condiments and formula products intended for infants) and partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of industrially-produced trans fatty acids, with a view to safeguarding food safety and public health.
In view of the new outbreak of African Horse Sickness (AHS) in Malaysia as notified to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on 2 September 2020, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has imposed suspension, with immediate effect, on permanent import, temporary import, transit/transhipment and re-entry shipments of horses from Malaysia to Hong Kong, China as well as suspension on the residency recognition of horses in Malaysia during the 60 days prior to export from other scheduled countries/region until further notice.
With effect from 25 March 2019, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has lifted the prohibition on the importation of all edible fats and oils of animal origins produced in Chinese Taipei as previously notified in G/SPS/N/HKG/40. All edible fats and oils, regardless of animal or plant origins, produced in Chinese Taipei may be imported into and sold within Hong Kong, China. The lifting of the import prohibition is based on a review of the latest situation, taking into account information provided by Chinese Taipei authorities on their inspection findings on manufacturers of edible fats and oils, surveillance results and control measures implemented.
Hong Kong, China notified in G/SPS/N/HKG/42 dated 8 June 2017 a consultation document on Proposed Amendments to the Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) Regulations (Cap. 132V, Laws of Hong Kong), setting out updated standards for metallic contamination in food. The proposed amendments were incorporated in the Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) (Amendment) Regulation 2018 ("the Amendment Regulation") which was gazetted on 8 June 2018 and approved by the Legislative Council on 10 October 2018. This addendum notifies that, following a one-year grace period, the Amendment Regulation will enter into force on 1 November 2019 for certain types of fresh food, given the shorter durability and shelf life of those types of food, and on 1 November 2020 for other food types.
Under the Food Business Regulation (Chapter 132X), save with the written permission of the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene, no person shall sell any restricted foods, including shell fish. The hairy crab is a kind of shell fish. In this connection, written permission must be obtained from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department for the sale of hairy crabs. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has prepared a new permit for operators selling hairy crabs to apply. The permit requires, inter alia, that hairy crabs for sale must be obtained from lawful sources accompanied with health certificates acceptable to the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene.
At present, the importation of horses into Hong Kong, China must, among other conditions, satisfy that: (i) no case of Hendra virus infection has been reported in the horse-exporting region for two years; or (ii) the test for Hendra virus is negative.The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has currently approved the importation of Hendra vaccinated horses into Hong Kong, China by means of waiver on a case-by-case basis. Hence, further to our notification G/SPS/N/HKG/35 of 7 February 2011, Hong Kong, China will revise the veterinary conditions in relation to Hendra virus requirements (as shown in italics and highlighted in yellow in the attachments) under the testing and vaccination section of the relevant export certificates.The amended requirements will apply to the export certificates for horses permanent imported and temporary imported into Hong Kong, China, and export certificate for re-entry of resident horses into Hong Kong, China.Proposed implementation date: 15 July 2017http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/HKG/17_2992_00_e.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/HKG/17_2992_01_e.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/HKG/17_2992_02_e.pdf
With a view to better protecting public health, facilitating effective regulation and promoting harmonisation between local and international standards, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region proposes, through legislative amendments, to enhance and update the Regulations. We propose to amend the Regulations along the following directions/principles: (i) to replace the existing food categories of "all food in solid/liquid form" with specific maximum levels (MLs) targeting individual food/food groups, with a view to aligning with the Codex principle and modern international regulatory trends of specifying metallic contamination standards for individual food/food groups of significant dietary exposure; (ii) to adopt Codex MLs unless otherwise justified; (iii) to establish MLs for food/food groups which are of significance to the population in Hong Kong, China and for which there is no relevant Codex ML; (iv) to update the food descriptions and nomenclatures in the Regulations, with reference to the available Codex food descriptions and nomenclatures or those of other jurisdictions as appropriate; and (v) to incorporate interpretation of MLs into the Regulations, given that there is currently no interpretation in the Regulations on how the maximum permitted concentrations can be applied to food in a dried, dehydrated or concentrated form; as well as multi-ingredient products.