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Foreword by the Secretary for Justice
 This is the seventh periodical review of the work of the Department of Justice. It is the third since I took office as Secretary for Justice in October 2005 and covers the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2009. As with previous editions, this review reflects the wide range of the department's work. It is fair to say that there are few areas within the broad sweep of government activity which have not required legal input from my department's counsel at one time or another.
I spoke in my foreword to the 2008 review of anticipated developments in a number of areas, including mediation, arbitration and reciprocal enforcement of judgments with the Mainland. I am pleased to say that the last two years have seen significant progress in each of these.
On mediation, the cross-sector Working Group I established and chaired held its first meeting in February 2008. Its task was to identify ways in which mediation can be more effectively and extensively applied to resolve both commercial disputes and disputes at the community level. The Working Group's proposals to achieve those ends will be presented in a report to be published in February 2010.
My department has responded to calls that the Arbitration Ordinance should keep pace with the needs of the modern arbitration community, domestically and globally. Following the publication of a consultation paper in December 2007, the department introduced a Bill to the Legislative Council in July 2009 which proposes to reform arbitration law in Hong Kong by creating a single and more user-friendly regime for all types of arbitration, based on the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. The department worked closely with arbitration practitioners in Hong Kong in formulating the proposals embodied in the Bill.
In relation to reciprocal enforcement of court judgments between the Mainland and Hong Kong, the HKSARG and the Supreme People's Court signed an arrangement in July 2006 covering civil and commercial judgments given by courts exercising their jurisdiction under a choice of court agreement. The arrangement has become effective from 1 August 2008 with the passing of the implementing legislation in Hong Kong and the promulgation of a judicial interpretation in the Mainland.
Hong Kong's legal system is rooted in the common law and we can benefit greatly from the mutual sharing of experience with lawyers from other common law jurisdictions. Our legal community also benefits from interacting with other jurisdictions with different legal traditions because of the international character of our city. Opportunities for just such interaction were provided when Hong Kong played host to two important international legal conferences in 2008 and 2009. In September 2008, the department was one of the joint organisers of the Third Asia Pacific Regional Conference of the Hague Conference on Private International Law 2008, while in April 2009 the Law Society of Hong Kong hosted the Commonwealth Law Conference. The Conference of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel 2009 held in conjunction with that latter conference provided an invaluable opportunity for legislative drafters to exchange experience.
The parameters of the Basic Law and the various rights it enshrines have continued to be tested and clarified in a number of important cases and my department has played a part in assisting the courts in these matters. Basic Law questions considered by the courts included whether the existing restriction on a prisoner's right to vote was unconstitutional, and what amounted to infringement of the right to academic freedom.
In conclusion, I should like to single out two senior colleagues for special mention. Since his appointment as Law Draftsman in January 2008, the department has benefited greatly from the experience which Eamonn Moran has brought from a distinguished career as a draftsman in the United Kingdom and the State of Victoria, Australia. In October 2009, Grenville Cross, SC, retired from his post as Director of Public Prosecutions after 31 years of service to the department and I express my thanks for his advice and support.
I hope the information contained in this review provides you with some idea of the many aspects of the work of the Department of Justice and its key role within Hong Kong's legal system.
(WONG YAN LUNG, SC)
Secretary for Justice
31 December 2009
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