Hong Kong, 15 April 2025 – The Conference on Simplification of Procedures and Best Practices for E-Commerce was conducted on 15-17 April 2025 by Hong Kong Customs and supported by the Chapter on Economic and Technical Cooperation (ECOTECH) of the ASEAN-Hong-Kong, China Free Trade Agreement (AHKFTA).

The conference was opened by Mr. Chan Tsz Tat, CDSM, Commissioner of Hong Kong Customs, World Customs Organization (WCO) Vice- Chairperson for the A/P Region (APVC) and Mr. Cuong Ba Tran, the Assistant Director/Head of the Trade Facilitation Division of the ASEAN Secretariat.

The conference exchanged views on potential innovation in cross-border e-commerce by leveraging information technology, such as the use of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and blockchain to significantly improve the risk management system, especially with the rapid increase in e-commerce growth that steady human resources cannot keep up with this development.

The conference further noted common challenges in cross-border e-commerce, including manual assessment in processing high volume of e-commerce shipments, limited capacity in risk profiling and analysis, as well as regulatory and institutional gaps.

In addressing these concerns, the conference highlighted international best practices in e-commerce customs operations from Australia, China, Hong Kong (China), Japan, and Sri Lanka, which demonstrated innovative approaches in automation, data integration, public-private partnerships, and regulatory reform.