(Adopted at the 24th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress on October 31, 2006)
At its 23rd Meeting, the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress discussed the proposal, submitted for deliberation by the State Council, on empowering the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to exercise jurisdiction over the Shenzhen Bay Port Hong Kong Port Area, and at its 24th Meeting, the Standing Committee discussed the draft decision on empowering the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to exercise jurisdiction over the Shenzhen Bay Port Hong Kong Port Area. The participants deem that it is necessary to set up the Shenzhen Bay Port Hong Kong Port Area to be exclusively used for the inspection and clearance of personnel, means of transportation and goods, in order to slacken the strain on the overland clearance caused by the daily increase in the exchange between the mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to meet the objective need of transportation and convenient clearance between Shenzhen City and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to promote personnel exchange, economic contact and trade between the mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and to push forward the joint economic development of the two regions. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has made the decision as follows:
1. It empowers the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to exercise, in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, jurisdiction over the Shenzhen Bay Port Hong Kong Port Area, beginning from the date the port is put to use.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall carry out out-of-bounds administration over the Shenzhen Bay Port Hong Kong Port Area.
2. The scope of the Shenzhen Bay Port Hong Kong Port Area shall be defined by the State Council.
3. The term of land use of the Shenzhen Bay Port Hong Kong Port Area shall be determined by the State Council in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws.