Hong Kong’s new national security regulation to be used rarely, ministers say

Hong Kong’s new legislation allowing certain criminal cases to be handled under national security procedures is expected to be used only rarely, with the city leader typically issuing such certification before trial, security and justice officials have said. A Legislative Council subcommittee completed its scrutiny of the Safeguarding National Security (Procedural Matters) Regulation during a meeting on Thursday that lasted around two hours. The regulation empowers the chief executive to define specific offences as endangering national security. Cases so classified will be subject to all procedures applicable to national security offences, including longer detention periods, stricter bail conditions and trials before designated judges. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said the new classification mechanism would be used sparingly, noting that existing laws already covered most acts and activities that threatened national security. “Classifying an offence endangering national security through a certificate issued by the chief executive is expected to be extremely rare,” Tang said. “However, given that acts and activities endangering national security are often covert with evolving tactics, the mechanism is intended to address these very few cases.” Tang also emphasised that the regulation would not expand the chief executive’s existing power to issue such certificates or lead to an increase in their use. “The [power for the chief executive] to issue a certificate already exists; it will not increase because of the legislation,” Tang said. The regulation seeks to clearly define “other offences endangering national security” under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance as crimes designated by the chief executive through certification. Tang previously said this category was unclear and faced legal challenges in court. Alternative charges faced by defendants in national security cases also fall under this category. Tang noted that the legislation would provide a faster and clearer way to determine whether an offence endangered national security. Under the previous framework, the chief executive already had the power to issue a certificate confirming whether an act or matter involved national security or whether any material contained state secrets. However, prosecutors were often still required to persuade the court that national security procedures should apply, even after such certification had been issued. The new law removes that additional step. The regulation allows the chief executive to issue a certificate “during the course of any proceedings of the case”. However, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said it was unlikely a case would be reclassified as a national security offence mid-trial. “If a case involves national security, during the investigation process, law enforcement must conduct a thorough investigation,” Lam said. “I believe such a situation will not arise in most cases.” Acting principal government counsel Ivan Leung added that while the chief executive could technically issue a certificate at any stage before all legal procedures concluded, in practice it would be highly improbable that one would be issued very late, such as after sentencing. The regulation also applies to acts or prosecutions that occurred before the national security law came into force in 2020. Lam said this was consistent with the legislative intent of the national security law, which recognised that certain offences endangering national security already existed before the law’s enactment. He cited remarks by Wang Chen – who was vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee at the time the law was being drafted – that certain pre-1997 Hong Kong laws could safeguard national security but had remained dormant. “Cases endangering national security under the national security law clearly include those that occurred before the law’s enactment,” Lam said. “The national security procedures should be applied to these cases.” Lam stressed that the regulation introduced no new offences or penalties and therefore did not contravene the principle against retrospective criminal liability. He added that it did not apply to cases that have already concluded. The regulation underwent negative vetting, was gazetted, and came into effect on Tuesday. Neither the government nor lawmakers proposed amendments during the meeting. The subcommittee will report its scrutiny to the Legco’s House Committee on Friday.

Hong Kong’s new national security regulation to be used rarely, ministers say

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Legislative Council subcommittee completes scrutiny of the Safeguarding National Security (Procedural Matters) Regulation

Legislative Council subcommittee completes scrutiny of the Safeguarding National Security (Procedural Matters) Regulation