By jurisdiction

Hong Kong SAR China

Hong Kong's accreditation service runs three separate schemes — for laboratories, certification bodies and inspection bodies.

Source: Official source ↗ ·

Population7,498,900 (2025)World Bank Open Data · retrieved
GDP$427.3B (2025)World Bank Open Data · retrieved
GDP per capita$56,983.1 (2025)World Bank Open Data · retrieved
Trade (goods + services, % of GDP)396.6% (2025)World Bank Open Data · retrieved
Foreign direct investment (net inflows)$125.8B net inflow (2024)World Bank Open Data · retrieved
Income levelHigh income (2026)World Bank Open Data · retrieved
Inflation (annual)1.44% (2025)World Bank Open Data · retrieved
Human Development Index0.955 · World rank #8 (2023)UNDP Human Development Report 2025 · retrieved
CurrencyHong Kong dollar (HKD)Wikidata · retrieved

Verified against primary sources as of 21 August 2026. Laws and figures change — confirm current requirements before relying on this page.

Hong Kong SAR China: 6 verified country-layer records — legal permit (2), mandatory scheme (3), conditional requirement (1). 1 accreditation body is listed for this jurisdiction. Each record below carries its legal instrument, who it binds, and the date it was last verified against its primary source.

Records
6
Accreditation bodies
1

National accreditation

Mandatory and regulatory records

Verified from primary sources, grouped by how binding each one is. None of these is a certificate; each carries the instrument it comes from and the date it was last checked.

Conditional requirement

How this jurisdiction is structured

HKAS is operated under the Innovation and Technology Commission

The Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) is operated under the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) and governed by the Accreditation Advisory Board, whose members are appointed by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau. HKAS runs three schemes: HOKLAS (laboratories, launched 1985), HKCAS (certification bodies, 1998) and HKIAS (inspection bodies, 1999). No specific founding Ordinance for HKAS itself was found — it should not be described as "established by law."

Official source ↗Last verified:

HKAS states it is a Global ACI member

HKAS's own page states it is a member of Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated (Global ACI) and APAC, that the IAF and ILAC's roles transferred to Global ACI on 1 January 2026, and that HKAS has "126 MRA partners in 119 economies." Independent confirmation of HKAS's entry in the Global ACI member registry itself has not yet been obtained.

Official source ↗Last verified:

Employer's general duty to ensure safety and health at work

The Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (Cap. 509), s.6, opened and read directly: "Every employer must, so far as reasonably practicable, ensure the safety and health at work of all the employer's employees." As amended in 2023: summary conviction carries a fine of up to HK$3,000,000; conviction on indictment, up to HK$10,000,000; a wilful and reckless breach additionally carries up to 6 months' (summary) or 2 years' (indictment) imprisonment. The Labour Department enforces the Ordinance.

Official source ↗Last verified:

Find an accredited body

HKAS publishes searchable, no-login lists of its accredited certification bodies (HKCAS) and laboratories (HOKLAS).

Official source ↗Last verified:

Customs and Excise enforces general product-safety law

The Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) enforces the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance (Cap. 456) and the Toys and Children's Products Safety Ordinance (Cap. 424), separately from the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department's (EMSD) role for electrical products and energy labelling — different regulators for different product categories, not one general product-safety authority.

Official source ↗Last verified:

Incentive and support programs

The BUD Fund below is verified and active as of 2026-08-21; its figures change periodically and should be re-checked quarterly. The SME Export Marketing Fund is being consolidated into the BUD Fund and is not listed separately here.

Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund)

Funder
Trade and Industry Department (TID), delivered via the Hong Kong Productivity Council portal
What it provides
Funding for branding, upgrading and domestic/overseas sales projects, up to a cumulative cap of HK$7,000,000 per enterprise (up to 70 approved projects), with a general per-application cap of HK$800,000 (an "Easy BUD" track caps at HK$150,000 per application, and an "E-commerce Easy" track caps at HK$800,000 per application). Geographic scope covers 48 economies as of 15 June 2026.
Eligibility
Hong Kong enterprises; specific eligibility depends on the track applied for.

Official source ↗Last verified:

Trade & market access

9 agreements
AgreementPartiesDateNote
Mainland-Hong Kong CEPAMainland ChinaSigned 2003-06
Hong Kong-New Zealand CEPNew ZealandSigned 2010-03
Hong Kong-EFTA FTAIceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, SwitzerlandSigned 2011-06
Hong Kong-Chile FTAChileSigned 2012-09
Hong Kong-Macao CEPAMacaoSigned 2017-10
Hong Kong-ASEAN FTAASEANSigned 2017-11
Hong Kong-Georgia FTAGeorgiaSigned 2018-06
Hong Kong-Australia FTAAustraliaSigned 2019-03
Hong Kong-Peru FTAPeruSigned 2024-11

Trade and Industry Department, Hong Kong · retrieved

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