Locals commuting b/w Macau & Hengqin can take food & pets

Macau residents who study, work, run a business, or live in the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin will be allowed to take cooked meat, cooked egg products, fresh vegetables and fruit, fresh flowers, and pets (cats and dogs) to either side of the border while commuting between Macau and Hengqin, starting on March 1 when Hengqin’s new “first-tier, second-tier” customs arrangements start.

Macau residents in any of the four groups will be required to submit their online applications to the Hengqin authorities in advance to confirm and verify their eligibility to benefit from the new measure.

The new measure was separately announced by the Hengqin authorities and the Macau government yesterday.

The Master Plan of the Development of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, which was released in September 2021, requires the establishment and operation of the zone as an autonomous customs territory, which will be operated on a two-tier principle, according to which the customs arrangements between Macau and the zone will be operated on the first tier, while the second tier will separate the zone from all the other areas within the customs territory of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – which is separate from the three other Chinese customs territories, i.e., Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Trade conducted through the first tier will generally be duty free and have simplified customs declaration procedures. However, most goods transported through the second tier will be subject to tariffs and import duties.

The Hengqin authorities announced early this month that the in-depth cooperation zone’s new “first-tier, second-tier” customs arrangements will get off the ground on March 1. The two-tier customs policy aims to facilitate the movement of people, goods, capital and information between Macau and Hengqin.

The Hengqin authorities held a press conference in the zone yesterday to announce further details on various measures that will enable the full and smooth implementation of the new customs arrangements.

The Hengqin authorities announced in a statement on Sunday that Macau residents in any of the four groups who have been included in its eligibility list will be allowed to take cooked meat, packaged dairy products, cooked egg products, fresh vegetables and fruit, fresh mushrooms, and fresh flowers to the in-depth cooperation zone from Macau.

However, according to Sunday’s statement, those eligible will only be allowed to take such items once a day, and they will only be permitted to take such items weighing up to five kilograms in total each time.

They will not be allowed to take such items from the zone to elsewhere in the mainland.

During yesterday’s press conference, officials from the Hengqin authorities and Zhuhai announced measures allowing eligible Macau residents to take pets (only cats and dogs) into the zone from Macau.

According to the press conference, each eligible Macau resident will only be allowed to take one pet from Macau to the zone each time they cross the Macau-Hengqin border. They will need to report to customs officers each time they take their pet to the zone, when they will be required to present the pet’s quarantine certificate and rabies vaccine certificate issued by the Macau government. The pets must be implanted with a chip.

Moreover, the Macau Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced in a statement yesterday its own measures allowing eligible Macau residents to take food and pets from Hengqin to Macau.

According to the IAM statement, Macau residents in any of the four groups who have been included on the Hengqin authorities’ eligibility list will be allowed to bring cooked meat, packaged dairy products, cooked egg products, fresh vegetables and fruit, fresh mushrooms, and fresh flowers back to Macau from the in-depth cooperation zone.

Each of them will only be allowed to bring such items once a day. They will only be allowed to bring such items weighing up to five kilograms in total each time, according to the statement.

Different to when travelling from Macau to Hengqin, pet owners who have submitted an application to the Macau Municipal Affairs Bureau will not have to report at the customs area each time they bring their pets from Hengqin back to Macau, according to the IAM statement.

According to the statement, eligible Macau residents can apply to the Macau Municipal Affairs Bureau for a permit allowing them to bring their chipped pets from the zone back to Macau within a certain period of time without having to undergo quarantine procedures every time.

The statement did not specify the duration of the period. 

The statement pointed out that currently each time pet owners bring their pets from Hengqin to Macau they have to go through import declaration and quarantine procedures for their pets first. This will, however, no longer be case starting from March 1. 

This photo released by the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone’s executive committee show officials from the Hengqin authorities and Zhuhai attending yesterday’s press conference.

This undated handout photo released by the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone’s executive committee yesterday shows the newly-built second-tier customs checkpoint at the entrance to Hengqin Bridge connecting Zhuhai and its Hengqin island. The checkpoint will start operating on March 1.