Cert users should get border priority: SME group head

The honorary chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprises Association, Danny Lau, says the government should select from an existing quarantine exemption group, when it comes to choosing which business people should have priority for quarantine-free travel with the mainland.

While a daily quota hasn’t yet been set, the Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that officials would approach commerce chambers, professional bodies and listed companies to work out a priority group.

Speaking on RTHK’s Hong Kong Today programme, Lau said some business people had, from April 2020, already applied for a quarantine exemption certificate from the Trade and Industry Department. He said those, who had made use of it, should be first in line.

“So roughly 40,000-50,000 applicants have successfully applied for their certificates,” he said. “The Hong Kong government can select those certificate owners, who have made use of this certificate.”

Lau also said there were other alternatives, such as by lucky draw or first-come-first-serve online application. But he said any draw would have to be highly transparent and some SMEs had a lack of computer knowledge. In addition, Lau also said the government could make a decision based on urgency but he said this would involve a lot of manpower.