Hong Kong national security law should be interpreted and applied only by Hong Kong courts, Bar Association says

The law should be treated just like any other local one, given it fills a gap in domestic legislation, the body argues

If mainland agents are stationed in Hong Kong, they should not have any law enforcement powers, it says

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Beijing should interpret the national security law only if asked by the Court of Final Appeal, the Bar Association says. Sam Tsang

Published: 7:30am, 13 Jun 2020Updated: 7:45am, 13 Jun 2020

Hong Kong courts should have full jurisdiction over interpreting and applying the incoming national security law, the city’s professional body of barristers said on Friday, calling on Beijing to refrain from construing the legislation without a local request.

The appeal by the Bar Association, and one the Law Society issued earlier, followed the scheduling of a three-day meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee beginning on Thursday, implying the details of the legislation could be hammered out – or even passed – by the end of next week.

Under the law, mainland agencies will be allowed to operate in the city “when needed”, a move that triggered widespread fears that all forms of dissent and opposition activity would effectively be criminalised. The government has offered repeated reassurances the law will only target a minority of lawbreakers.

The association, with more than 1,500 members, first expressed its concerns on May 25 and in its latest statement said nothing had been done to address them.

It laid out recommendations on how the law should comply with the common law tradition. The legislation would be the first time Beijing had made a specific law imposing criminal responsibility in Hong Kong, it said. Mainland authorities have justified the move by pointing out the city had failed to enact the relevant legislation as required under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the financial hub’s mini-constitution.

“Thus, the purpose of the national security law is to fill a gap and take the place of a law that is supposed to have been enacted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,” it said. “As such, and notwithstanding its origin, the national security law should not be treated differently from any other piece of domestic legislation in the HKSAR.”

The law should be applied and interpreted in accordance with standard common law principles and subjected to all the usual guarantees of criminal procedures, with the rights of parties to the proceedings protected in full, the association said.