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Ⅰ. The Macro-environment of the GBA

breakthroughs in Shenzhen-Hong Kong’s financial services relating to people’s livelihood, cross-border finance,

and financial opening up, promoting the accelerated formation of a new pattern of financial cooperation between
Shenzhen and Hong Kong, represented by the “six links” between Shenzhen-Hong Kong accounts, remittance,

financing, trade, financial services, and cross-border wealth management. Data shows that since its launch
in October 2021, the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Financial City has attracted 312 financial

institutions, including 82 Hong Kong funded and foreign-funded ones. The cross-border revenue and expenditure
of the Qianhai Free Trade Account (“FT”) exceeded RMB 464.8 billion, accounting for 82.1% of the cross-

border revenue and expenditure with Hong Kong. The financial industry is continuously increasing its opening-
up efforts. 12

The mechanism for Hong Kong-invested enterprises to adopt Hong Kong law and choose for arbitration
to be seated in Hong Kong is an innovative legal policy implemented by the Central Government in designated

areas, which aims at strengthening the integrated development of the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao
economies. In 2021, Qianhai encouraged choosing Hong Kong arbitration institutions for conducting arbitration,

aiming to fully implement the measures of “allowing Hong Kong-invested enterprises to adopt Hong Kong law
and choose for arbitration to be seated in Hong Kong”. Then Secretary for Justice of the Government of the Hong

Kong SAR, Ms Teresa Cheng, S.C., highly appreciates Qianhai’s pioneering trial measures of “allowing Hong
Kong-invested enterprises to adopt Hong Kong law”, which allows Hong Kong funded enterprises currently

registered in the Qianhai Cooperation Zone to use Hong Kong law as the applicable law for civil and commercial
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contracts which do not involve “foreign-related” factors. The Department of Justice of the Government of
the Hong Kong SAR will continue to actively strive for the implementation of “allowing Hong Kong-invested
enterprises to adopt Hong Kong law and choose for arbitration to be seated in Hong Kong” in the GBA. It

is hoped that in the near future, when one party to a civil and commercial contract is a Hong Kong-invested
enterprise, and no “foreign-related factors” are involved, the parties to the contract will still be free to agree that

Hong Kong law will be the applicable law of the contract, and for Hong Kong to be designated as the forum for
conducting arbitration in the dispute resolution clause. This will provide relevant parties with more options for

12 Hong Kong Policy Address 2023 mentions Qianhai 8 times, with a focus on “Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation”, GBA Portal
website (November 1, 2023). http://www.cnbayarea.org.cn/homepage/ttdt/content/post_1138197.html
13 Qianhai plans to fully implement “allowing Hong Kong-invested enterprises to adopt Hong Kong law and choose for arbitration to
be seated in Hong Kong”, Website of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Party of Hong Kong, reproduced from Southern Daily
(December 17, 2021), http://www.locpg.gov.cn/jsdt/2021-12/17/c_1211490669.htm

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