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The Legal System

The Law Reform Commission

The commission considers and reports on those topics referred to it by the Secretary for Justice or the Chief Justice. Its membership includes judges, academics, practising lawyers and prominent community members. Since its establishment in 1980, the commission has published 64 reports covering subjects as diverse as commercial arbitration, description of flats on sale, guardianship and custody, hearsay, privacy, class actions and charities. Subjects now under the commission's consideration include sexual offences, archives law, access to information, third-party funding for arbitration and periodical payments for future pecuniary loss in personal injury cases.

Director of Intellectual Property

The office of the Director of Intellectual Property, established under the Director of Intellectual Property (Establishment) Ordinance (Cap 412), runs the Intellectual Property Department, which operates the trade marks, patents, designs and copyright licensing bodies registries. With regard to intellectual property, the department makes recommendations on policy and legislation, provides civil legal advice to the government, and promotes public awareness of and respect. for intellectual property rights. It also facilitates and promotes Hong Kong's development into a premier intellectual property trading hub in the region.

Equal Opportunities Commission

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) is an independent statutory body established. to implement Hong Kong's anti-discrimination legislation. There are currently four anti-discrimination ordinances: the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, the Disability Discrimination Ordinance, the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance and the Race Discrimination Ordinance. The EOC's functions include working towards the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of sex, marital status, pregnancy, disability, family status and race, and working towards the elimination of sexual harassment, and harassment and vilification on the grounds of disability and race.

In 2015, the EOC received 3,402 enquiries and 509 complaints relating to the four anti-discrimination ordinances. A total of 112 complaint cases were successfully conciliated.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) is an independent statutory body established under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to monitor, supervise and promote compliance with the ordinance.

In 2015, the PCPD received 1,971 complaints, 18,456 enquiries and 44 matching procedure consent applications; conducted 279 compliance checks and 76 self-initiated investigations; and published two investigation reports and two guidance notes.

The PCPD organised 276 talks, seminars and workshops for the public and various industries to promote awareness and understanding of personal data privacy, including 77 professional workshops for data users and 13 seminars and activities for mobile applications developers. The

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