Exchanging notes: Director General of Shenzhen Customs District Zou Zhiwu and Commissioner of Customs & Excise Timothy Tong (left and middle) discuss customs issues for airlines.

The implementation of CEPA has been smooth thanks to the Customs & Excise Department's close liaison with Mainland counterparts.

This was the message today from Commissioner of Customs & Excise Timothy Tong who said to date, 718 Certificate of Origin applications have been received, of which 672 involving $294 million have been approved. Some 287 cases involving $117 million have been approved in the past 30 days alone.

To prevent the abuse of CEPA by unscrupulous traders, Customs will continue rigorous trade control measures, such as preventing false declarations, reinforcing inspection of factories, inspecting production records, and conducting surprise checks on goods.

Mr Tong made the comments during Director General of Shenzhen Customs District Zou Zhiwu's visit to Hong Kong. Both officials are determined to further strengthen enforcement and suppress cross-boundary smuggling activities.

Passenger and cargo traffic between the two cities is huge, with an average of 160,000 passengers and 56,400 metric tons of cargo coming to Hong Kong from Shenzhen daily.