Hong Kong SAR, China

Starting a Business in

Hong Kong SAR, China

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Limited Liability Company
  • City: Hong Kong

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Choose a company name and obtain a certificate of incorporation

A company name can be searched online free of charge at the Companies Registry. A certificate of incorporation will be issued upon the filing of an incorporation form, which has been introduced since July 2008, and a copy of the memorandum and articles of association of the company with the Companies Registry. The incorporation form, which contains comprehensive information on the address of registered office and particulars of the first secretary and the first directors of a company, enhances disclosure of essential information of a company upon incorporation. The document registration process was also streamlined as the new company is no longer required to file separate notifications reporting on those particulars after incorporation. Upon the implementation of electronic incorporation and one-stop service for company incorporation and business registration in late 2010, the whole process of submitting an electronic application, making payment of incorporation fees and business registration fee, and issuing to a successful applicant the Certificate of Incorporationand Business Registration Certificate can be completed within 1 day.
1 day HKD 1,720 application fee + 0.1% of authorized share capital, capped at 30,000+ 450 for business registration levy.
2 Sign up Employee Compensation Insurance and Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Schemes with a private company or a bank

Under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance, an employer must possess a valid insurance policy to cover its employees (both full- and part-time) who are fatally injured or disabled due to accidents arising out of and during employment. In addition, all employees ages 18–65 and employed for 60 days or more under an employment contract (regardless of the number of work hours) must be covered by the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Schemes Ordinance (except for persons exempted from the scheme) and be enrolled in an MPF scheme. The employer is also required to display the participation certificate issued by the Mandatory Provident Fund Authority at the work premises. The employer can arrange this insurance and the MPF scheme with any insurance company or bank in Hong Kong.
1 day no charge
3 Make a corporate seal and company rubber stamp


1 day HKD 215
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