Law in the HKSAR

The laws in force in the HKSAR are:  

  (1) the Basic Law;
  (2) national laws listed in Annex III to the Basic Law;
  (3) the laws in force before July 1, 1997, that were adopted as laws of the HKSAR by the Standing Committee of the NPC; and
  (4) laws enacted by the legislature of the HKSAR.

    National laws relating to defence and foreign affairs as well as other matters outside the limits of the autonomy of the HKSAR may be applied locally by way of promulgation or legislation by the HKSAR. Currently, 11 national laws apply in the HKSAR.

    All ordinances in force in the HKSAR are bilingual, and their Chinese and English texts are equally authentic. Those ordinances, and the subsidiary legislation made under them, are published in the loose-leaf edition of the Laws of Hong Kong and are accessible on the Internet. All new legislation is published in the Government Gazette.

    The Law Drafting Division of the Department of Justice is responsible for drafting legislation in both official languages. It also keeps a bilingual legal glossary in a database that has about 30 000 entries. An English-Chinese glossary of legal and relevant terms appearing in legislation is published from time to time in booklet form. The third edition, containing about 30 000 entries, was published in September 1998. A Chinese-English Glossary of Legal Terms was published in December 1999. It contains about 11 500 entries.