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The Legal System

of Persons with Disabilities require states parties to submit periodic reports and other requested information to UN treaty monitoring bodies. With the exception of the ICCPR, which does not apply to the Mainland of China, the HKSAR submits these reports as part of corresponding reports submitted by China and HKSAR teams attending hearings of the relevant treaty bodies as part of the Chinese delegation. The HKSAR delegation attends ICCPR hearings under the leadership of the Chinese Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the UN. In addition, the UN Human Rights Council conducts a Universal Periodic Review of the human rights. situation in all UN member states.

International Treaties and Agreements Applying to HKSAR

Under the Basic Law, multilateral treaties can apply to the HKSAR. There are 253 such treaties. In certain areas, the HKSAR can conclude its own bilateral agreements and 244 such agreements have been concluded. Lists of these treaties and agreements and the English texts of the agreements are available at www.doj.gov.hk/eng/laws/treaties.html.

Arbitration and Mediation

The government has a steadfast policy to promote Hong Kong as a leading centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia Pacific region. The Department of Justice works closely with the legal and dispute resolution communities in Hong Kong to improve the provision of legal, arbitration and mediation services locally, and to promote the territory as a regional centre for international legal and dispute resolution services. An Advisory Committee on Promotion of Arbitration coordinates and advises on overall strategy.

HKSAR arbitral awards can be enforced in more than 150 states that are parties to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention). The HKSAR also has arrangements for reciprocal enforcement of arbitral awards with the Mainland and the Macao SAR.

The Arbitration Ordinance, which took effect in 2011, reformed Hong Kong's arbitration law based on the latest version of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The ordinance was amended in 2013 to include new provisions for reciprocal enforcement of arbitral awards between the HKSAR and the Macao SAR and for the judicial enforcement of relief granted by an emergency arbitrator before an arbitral tribunal is constituted. In December 2016, the department introduced a bill into the Legislative Council to amend the ordinance again so as to make it clear that disputes relating to intellectual property rights can be settled by arbitration and it would not be contrary to public policy to enforce an award solely because the award is in respect of a dispute or matter which relates to intellectual property rights. In the same month, another amendment bill was published in the Gazette. The bill seeks to clarify that third-party funding of arbitration and mediation is not prohibited by the common law doctrines of maintenance and champerty; and to provide for related measures and safeguards. The bill is based on the recommendations made in the Report on Third Party Funding for Arbitration published by the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong in October 2016 and the views of the Steering Committee on Mediation chaired by the Secretary for Justice.

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