Under Hong Kong’s obligations of the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (“AMLO”) (Cap. 615) has been amended to introduce a registration regime, individuals engage in the following activities:

Any person carries on any of the following activities by way of business —

a. trading in (including purchasing and selling), exporting or importing precious metals, precious stones or precious products;
b. manufacturing, refining or carrying out any value adding work on precious metals, precious stones or precious products;
c. issuing, redeeming or trading in precious-asset backed instruments; or
d. acting as an intermediary in respect of any of the activities a, b or c;
Except the person carries on a logistics service business, only imports or exports precious metals, precious stones or precious products in the ordinary course of that business.

There are four types of articles:

a. Precious metal: gold, silver, platinum, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium or ruthenium, in a manufactured or unmanufactured state;
b. Precious stone: diamond, sapphire, ruby, emerald, jade or pearl, whether natural or otherwise;
c. Precious product: any jewellery and watch that is made up of, containing or having attached to it, any precious metal or precious stone, or both;
d. Precious-asset-backed instrument: means any certificate or instrument backed by one or more precious metals, precious stones or precious products that entitles the holder to such assets (in entirety or in part); but does not include—

• any securities, a futures contract, any interest in a collective investment scheme, a structured product or an OTC derivative product as defined by the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap 571); or
• a virtual asset.

Two categories of registration:

Any person who is seeking to carry on a business of dealing in precious metals and stones (DPMS) in Hong Kong and engage in any transaction(s) (whether making or receiving a payment) with total value at or above HKD120,000^* in Hong Kong is required to register with the Commissioner of Customs and Excise.

a. Any dealer who intends to engage in non-cash transaction(s) with total value at or above HKD120,000 in the course of business is required to register as a Category A registrant.
b. Any dealer who is seeking to engage in cash transactions with total value at or above HKD120,000 and non-cash transactions with total value at or above HKD120,000 in the course of business is required to register as a Category B registrant. A Category B registrant is subject to AML/CTF supervision.

*The HKD120,000 threshold includes an equivalent amount in another currency