New Book: Archbold Hong Kong 2025 (Sweet & Maxwell)

ARCHBOLD HONG KONG 2025
Editor-in-Chief: The Hon Mr Justice Bokhary
General Editor: Professor Simon Young
Sweet & Maxwell
October 2024

Preface by the General Editor

The SNSO fulfils the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s duty to enact laws on its own to prohibit seven types of national security threats, as mandated by Article 23 of the Basic Law. The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“NSL”) of June 2020 covered two of those prohibitions (i.e. secession and subversion) and added new crimes to address terrorist activities and collusion with a foreign country or external element. The SNSO completes the national security ecosystem by modernising previous offences (e.g. treason, misprision of treason, unlawful drilling, incitement to mutiny or disaffection, sedition, and offences in connection with state secrets and espionage), adding new ones (e.g. insurrection, sabotage, acts in relation to computers and electronic systems, external interference, disclosing a national security investigation, harassing persons handling national security cases/work), and conferring new executive powers to prohibit organisations endangering national security.

Perhaps the most controversial aspects of the SNSO are the departures from procedural norms that apply to other offences (e.g. extended detention of arrested person, restricted access to legal representative, movement restriction orders of persons on bail, disregarding 8-day rule on remand, translation of statements and exhibits only by order of magistrate, dispensing with preliminary inquiry, no section 16 discharge, anonymity measures). Those convicted of offences endangering national security cannot have a sentence of imprisonment suspended (i.e. they are excepted offences) and face presumptions against remission and early release. Finally, there are new measures aimed at facilitating the return of specified “absconders” who are not in Hong Kong.

Unlike the NSL, the offences and measures in the SNSO may be judicially reviewed for compatibility with the Basic Law and Hong Kong Bill of Rights. The “Principles” of the SNSO states that “human rights are to be respected and protected” and the rights and freedoms “enjoyed under the Basic Law, the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to the HKSAR, are to be protected in accordance with the law” (s.2(b)). The presumption of innocence and other legal rights in the criminal process are also expressly mentioned in the statement of Principles (s.2(c)). No doubt cases in the future will raise issues as to the proportionality of the new rules and decisions executed under those rules. For now, the number of notable national security law judgments can still be listed on less than two pages (see list below).

I wish to express my deep appreciation for the hard work of contributing editors in providing updates throughout the year for the supplements and main work, for the continuous support of the Sentencing Editor and Editor-in-Chief, for the diligent research done by my student editors (Oscar Wong, Jonathan Ho, and Cover Lai), and for overall management by Thomson Reuters colleagues, especially Wing Yan Ng.

Professor Simon NM Young

Ian Davies Professor in Ethics

Parkside Chambers

18 August 2024