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2025
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam will depart for a three-day visit to Beijing tomorrow and return to Hong Kong on Saturday. Upon arrival in the capital, Mr Lam will call on the Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office of the State Council to report on the developments of the Department of Justice's major policy initiatives. He will also join an exchange session at the Supreme People's Court and a seminar at the Supreme People's Procuratorate during the trip. Additionally, he will meet senior officials and representatives of the authorities to exchange views on Hong Kong's common law system under the principle of “one country, two systems” and other relevant topics. During Mr Lam’s absence, Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan will be Acting Secretary.
The Judiciary today launched a LinkedIn page with the aim of fostering professional understanding and enhancing transparency with regard to its work, both locally and internationally. On the platform, the Judiciary will share updates on significant court judgments, major professional exchanges with other jurisdictions, key events, and important initiatives.
The hard copy loose-leaf edition of the Laws of Hong Kong has been phased out following completion, in the first quarter of this year, of a project to verify all the current consolidated legislation published on Hong Kong e-Legislation (HKeL), the Department of Justice announced today. The department said the HKeL is now the only official source of Hong Kong’s current consolidated laws, and that the final issue of the loose-leaf edition was issued earlier this month. Under the department’s verification project, all copies of the current consolidated legislation published on HKeL were subjected to a rigorous verification process. This included checking for accuracy against official copies of legislation in the loose-leaf edition and the Government Gazette. With the project’s completion, all verified copies published on HKeL have legal status. Users can access and download the verified copies on HKeL free of charge on any device. The department rolled out the Bilingual Laws Information System website in 1997. The website’s contents initially had no official status and were for information only. The department therefore established Hong Kong e-Legislation in 2017 and subsequently embarked on its verification project. Besides its ongoing efforts to proceed with back-capturing past printed gazettes and create electronic versions of them for upload to HKeL, the department is gradually converting printed copies of the loose-leaf edition into electronic format for addition to the website.
The Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2025 was published in the Government Gazette today. The bill amends electoral laws to ensure the smooth running of two important elections due to be held later this year, namely the 2025 Election Committee Subsector (ECSS) By-elections and the 2025 Legislative Council General Election (LCGE). In particular it seeks to introduce adjustments to the delineation of geographical constituencies for the LCGE; empower the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) to use counting machines in LegCo functional constituency elections and consolidate ballot paper accounts for relevant constituencies; and improve arrangements for the publication of ECSS registers. The Chief Executive announced this week that the date for this year’s LCGE will be December 7, and that the ECSS by-elections will be held on September 7. The Government said it will continue to liaise closely with the EAC, and will prepare for the elections in accordance with the relevant electoral legislation to ensure that they are held in a fair, just, honest, safe and orderly manner. The bill will be introduced into LegCo for a first reading on March 26.
A 61-year-old female visitor to Hong Kong from the Mainland was today jailed for 54 days by Sha Tin Magistrates’ Courts for working illegally. Immigration officers followed up on an advert on social media in which a service provider offered to submit driving licences applications at the Transport Department on behalf of others. The officers identified a suspect and initiated an operation last Wednesday. On being arrested, the 61-year-old woman admitted that she had come to Hong Kong to submit applications for others and was to receive a monetary reward of $100 for each application. A female Hong Kong resident, aged 33, was arrested on suspicion of employing the illegal worker and is being investigated. The department said it will continue to take resolute enforcement action to combat such offences.
The Government today launched a scheme to provide convenient immigration arrangements for individuals invited to Hong Kong from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The policy is aimed at strengthening the city’s economic and trade exchanges, and its cultural co-operation, with the bloc. Under the Immigration Facilitation Scheme for Invited Persons, relevant policy bureaus and departments will invite ASEAN nationals who they believe can make considerable contributions to Hong Kong’s economic development, or who they wish to attend important events in the city, to take advantage of expedited immigration arrangements. The Immigration Department will provide one-stop processing of applications from invitees through an electronic platform, relax the application criteria for self-service immigration clearance, and simplify the information required for visa applications. Stressing that ASEAN has a long-standing relationship with Hong Kong and is the city’s second largest trading partner, the Government said it attaches great importance to co-operation with ASEAN countries. It added that self-service immigration clearance services at Hong Kong’s control points will greatly enhance clearance efficiency for invitees. Click here for details of the scheme.
The Conference on Climate Change & International Trade Law was held in hybrid format in Hong Kong today, attracting about 600 registrations from jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Africa. Jointly organised by the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy of the Department of Justice, the conference discussed how international trade law can effectively support the achievement of climate action goals set by the international community. Secretary for Justice Paul Lam, UNCITRAL Secretary Anna Joubin-Bret and Deputy Director General, Department of Treaty & Law of the Ministry of Commerce Tian Ya gave opening remarks, while Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan delivered closing remarks. International Law Commission Member Ma Xinmin gave a keynote address, with prominent speakers from around the world joining the panel discussions. Noting that various local climate change initiatives have demonstrated Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre as well as a green and sustainable finance hub, Mr Lam said the wide spectrum of issues discussed at the conference illustrates how international trade law can effectively support the climate action goals set by the global community. The International Legal Talents Training Academy will continue to work with UNCITRAL in different areas and is planning to co-organise the 6th UNCITRAL Asia Pacific Judicial Summit in Hong Kong later this year.