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Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce
Traditional Chinese	香港總商會
Simplified Chinese	香港总商会
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Xiānggǎng Zǒng Shānghuì
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	hoeng1 gong2 zung2 soeng1 wui6*2

Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce
Abbreviation	HKGCC
Formation	29 May 1861; 163 years ago
Legal status	Not-for-profit organisation
Purpose	Chambers of commerce in Hong Kong
Location	22/F United Centre, 95 Queensway, Hong Kong;
Region served	Hong Kong
Chairman	Agnes Chan
Website	www.chamber.org.hk

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC; Chinese: 香港總商會) was founded on 29 May 1861, and is the oldest and one of the largest business organizations in Hong Kong. It has around 4,000 corporate members, who combined employ around one-third of Hong Kong's workforce. It is a self-funding, not-for-profit organization that promotes and represents the interests of the Hong Kong business community. A core function of its work is to formulate recommendations on improving the business environment, which its 23 industry-specific committees constantly analyze and make regular submissions to HKSAR Government officials and policy makers.^[1]

The Chamber's key services are advocacy, events, networking and business services. It also issues Certificates of Origin, ATA Carnet, and Certificate of Business Identity among other business documentation services via its six branches around Hong Kong.

History

Foundation

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce was founded on 29 May 1861, just 20 years after the foundation of the Colony of Hong Kong with Alexander Perceval of British owned trading conglomerate Jardine, Matheson & Co as its first chairman.^[2] The original membership consisted of 62 companies.^[3]

Business documentation services

The Chamber provides certification services in 5 districts in Hong Kong, and is the biggest location network in Hong Kong. It began issuing Certificates of Origin in 1920, and is the sole authorised organisation for issuing ATA Carnet documents. It also provides Document Endorsement, Consulate Endorsement Facilitation and Paper to EDI Conversion issued are fully recognized by consulates, banks and customs houses throughout the world.^[4]

List of chairpersons


#		Tenure	Business Affiliation	Notes
1	Alexander Perceval	1861–1862	Jardine Matheson & Co.
2	James Macandrew	1862–1863	Jardine Matheson & Co.
3	J J Mackenzie	1863–1864	Dent & Co
4	H B Gibb	1864	Gibb, Livingston & Co (Inchape)
5	H B Lemann	1865	Gilman & Co (Inchcape)
6	John Dent	1866	Dent & Co
7	Phineas Ryrie	1867–1868	Turner & Co; Legco 24½ years
8	W J Bryans	1869	Turner & Co
9	William Keswick	1870	Jardine Matheson & Co.
10	Phineas Ryrie	1871–1876	Turner & Co; Legco 24½ years
11	William Keswick	1877–1881	Jardine Matheson & Co.
12	F B Johnson	1882–1883	Jardine Matheson & Co.
13	William Keswick	1884–1885	Jardine Matheson & Co.
14	Phineas Ryrie	1886–1889	Turner & Co; Legco 24½ years
15	E Mackintosh	1890–1892	Butterfield & Swire
16	J J Keswick	1893–1895	Jardine Matheson & Co.
17	A G Wood	1895	Gibb, Livingston & Co.
18	A McConachie	1896	Gilman & Co (Inchape)
19	R M Gray	1897–1900	Reiss & Co
20	Sir Thomas Jackson	1901	Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank	Elected at a special general meeting on January 2, 1884, as the first HKGCC Legco representative
21	C S Sharp	1902	Gibb, Livingston & Co (Inchape)
22	E A Hewett	1903–1915	P&O Steam Navigation Co
23	D Landale	1915	Jardine Matheson & Co
24	G T Edkins	1916	Butterfield & Swire
25	P H Holyoak	1917–1918	Reiss & Co
26	S H Dodwell	1919	Dodwell & Co
27	P H Holyoak	1920–1921	Reiss & Co
28	A O Lang	1922	Gibb, Livingston & Co
29	D G M Bernard	1923	Jardine Matheson & Co.
30	J Owen Hughes	1924	Harry Wicking & Co
31	P H Holyoak	1925	Holyoak, Massey & Co
32	D G M Bernard	1926–1927	Jardine Matheson & Co.
33	T G Weall	1928	Dodwell & Co
34	B D F Beith	1929	Jardine Matheson & Co.
35	G Gordon Mackie	1930	Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co
36	W H Bell	1931	The Asiatic Petroleum Co
–	T H R Shaw (acting)	1932	Butterfield & Swire
37	J A Plummer	1932	Bradley & Co
38	G Gordon Mackie	1933–1934	Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co
39	W H Bell	1935	The Asiatic Petroleum Co
40	S H Dodwell	1936	Dodwell & Co
41	M T Johnson	1937	Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co
42	A L Shields	1938	Shewan, Tomes & Co
43	T E Pearce	1939	John D Hutchison & Co
44	J K Bousfield	1940	The Asiatic Petroleum Co
45	S H Dodwell	1941	Dodwell & Co
Activities suspended due to World War II
46	R D Gillespie	1946–1947	Imperial Chemical Industries
47	C C Roberts	1948	Butterfield & Swire
48	P S Cassidy	1948–1949	John D Hutchison & Co
49	C C Roberts	1950	Butterfield & Swire
50	P S Cassidy	1951	John D Hutchison & Co
51	H J Collar	1952	Imperial Chemical Industries
52	C Blaker	1953	Gilman & Co
53	J A Blackwood	1954–1955	Butterfield & Swire
54	C Blaker	1956–1957	Gilman & Co (Inchape)
55	J D Clague	1958–1959	John D Hutchison & Co
56	G M Goldsack	1960	Dodwell & Co
57	W C G Knowles	1961–1962	Butterfield & Swire
58	S S Gordon	1963–1964	Lowe, Bingham & Matthews
59	G R Ross	1965–1966	Deacon & Co
60	J Dickson Leach	1967	Union Insurance Society of Canton
61	M A R Herries	1968–1969	Jardine Matheson & Co.
62	G M B Salmon	1970–1971	Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co
63	P G Williams	1972–1973	Dodwell & Co.
64	Peter Foxon	1974–1975	Gilman & Co (Inchape)
65	Leslie Gordon	1967–1977	Lowe, Bingham & Matthews
66	N A Rigg	1978–1979	Union Insurance Society of Canton Limited
67	D K Newbigging	1980–1981	Jardine Matheson & Co.
68	John Marden	1982–1983	Wheelok Marden
69	Jack Tang	1984–1985	South Seas Textile
70	Tom Clydesdale	1986–1987	Lowe, Bingham & Matthews
71	Allen Lee	1988	Sonca
72	Helmut Sohmen	1989–1991	World-Wide Shipping
73	Vincent Lo	1991-1992	Shui On Group
74	Paul Cheng	1992–1994	Inchcape
75	William Fung	1994–1996	Li & Fung
76	James Tien	1996–1998	Manhattan Garments
77	Peter Sutch	1998-1999	Swire Group
78	Tung Chee-chen	1999–2001	OOCL
79	Christopher Cheng	2001–2003	Wing Tai Corporation
80	Anthony Nightingale	2003–2005	Jardine Matheson Holdings
81	David Eldon	2005–2007	Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
82	Lily Chiang	2007-2008	Eco-Tek Holdings	Suspended from Nov 2007 to May 2008
83	Andrew Brandler	2008–2010	CLP Group	Acting from Nov 2007; elected May 2008
84	Anthony Wu	2010–2012	Bauhinia Foundation; Hospital Authority
85	Sir C K Chow	2012–2014	Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited
86	Y K Pang	2014–2016	Jardine Matheson Holdings
87	Stephen Ng	2016–2018	Wharf Holdings
88	Aron Harilela	2018–2020	Harilela Group
89	Peter Wong	2020–2022	Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
90	Betty Yuen	2022–2024	CLP Holdings Ltd
91	Agnes Chan	2024-present	EY

CEPA

In HKGCC's report “China’s Entry into the WTO and its Impact on Hong Kong Business”, released on 18 January 2000, one of the key recommendations was to explore the possibility of setting up a regional trade agreement (RTA), also sometimes called a “free trade agreement”, as a concrete means to enhance further integration of trade and economic relations between Hong Kong and mainland China. After China's accession to the WTO in 2001, HKGCC once again presented the idea to Tung Chee-hwa, the then HKSAR Chief Executive. The idea struck a chord with Tung who then put forward the RTA concept to the Central Government. On 20 December 2001, Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, told Tung that the Central Government formally agreed to the suggestion, and consultation would begin immediately.^[5]

In January 2002, discussions between the HKSAR and the Central governments formally began, and a regional trade agreement was hammered out and formally named “Mainland/Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement” or CEPA. HKGCC then submitted a paper entitled “Towards a Regional Trade Agreement between China and HKSAR” to Antony Leung on 21 January 2002, put forward seven principles to guide the discussions on the RTA, emphasizing that CEPA must be compliant with WTO principles.^[6]