During Vice-Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Hong Kong, he outlined a plan to open up the mainland market to Hong Kong's service providers by 2017. New agreements to be signed by the end of the year are expected to make it easier for the industries to establish themselves on the mainland.
But previous efforts to bring local professionals across the border have been sluggish. Institute of Architects honorary secretary Daniel Chi Wuh-cherng said 412 local architects had secured a national qualification from 2004 to 2008 but none had managed to become registered architects who could sign off technical drawings of buildings.
They still have to pass a test on national regulations next month. So far, 60 architects have applied to sit the examination, and even if they pass they still have to secure positions at a design institute in Guangdong. 'Many of the architects are bosses of small and medium-sized enterprises,' Chi said. 'They cannot leave their companies behind and join mainland design institutes.'
If they want to establish their own firms on the mainland they must employ at least three mainland architects with top qualifications.
Chi said that as each architect would be paid about HK$400,000, hiring three of them would cost too much for most of the 167 local firms, of which 70 per cent are small and medium-sized enterprises. He called for new terms allowing local professionals to practise on the mainland to be included in the forthcoming Cepa agreement and said obstacles to starting new companies should be removed.
Engineers are making similar demands for a relaxation.
Two hundred structural engineers have had their technical skills recognised on the mainland since mutual recognition agreements were introduced in 2003, but none managed to fulfil all criteria and they are banned from endorsing structural drawings.
Discussions on recognising qualifications of building services and electrical engineering experts started three years ago. The local association was invited to set questions for a qualification exam, but there was no progress after this.
'It's meaningless if we can't practise there,' Institution of Engineers president Dr Chan Fuk-cheung said.
Meanwhile, lawyers are troubled by an extremely difficult national licensing exam. Only 70 passed it, of whom 20 were registered lawyers in Hong Kong, Law Society president Junius Ho Kwan-yiu said.
The overall pass rate for the exam is eight per cent, while for Hong Kong lawyers it is just one per cent - a possible reason being that locals, who are used to the common law system, need to make an extra effort to familiarise themselves with the mainland's system.
'Like any other candidates [with no legal background], local lawyers are required to take more than 20 papers in the exam ... they should be exempted from some of them,' Ho said. He also said Hong Kong lawyers were not allowed to pursue criminal cases or civil ones unrelated to Hong Kong even after they had passed the examination.
As for doctors, most were not interested in obtaining licences, with only about 20 doing so, Medical Association president Dr Choi Kin said.
They have to pay more than HK$10,000 for the national licence, and most refrain from doing so, knowing it will be difficult to get past regional restrictions and start clinics.
Guangdong authorities have received seven applications from Hong Kong to set up clinics and four have been approved since 2009.
Cepa allows tariff-free exports of more than 350 types of Hong Kong goods. Hong Kong goods are defined as those with 30 per cent of their value added in Hong Kong. The pact also initially opened 38 mainland service sectors to Hong Kong companies. Since it was signed on June 29, 2003, several supplements to the pact have been signed around the same time each year.
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