DoJ Welcomes NPCSC's Passage of Amendments to The Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China Governing GBA Lawyers

DoJ welcomes NPCSC's passage of amendments to the Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China governing GBA lawyers

The Department of Justice (DoJ) welcomed the passage of amendments to the Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China (Lawyers Law) by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) yesterday (August 28). The amendments will take effect from September 1, 2026. Article 62 of the amended Lawyers Law provides that Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) legal practitioners and Macao SAR practising lawyers who passed the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Legal Professional Examination organised by the judicial administration department of the State Council and obtained Mainland practice qualification may practise in stipulated areas of legal matters in the Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing municipalities of the Guangdong Province. Matters such as the enrollment requirements for the examination, the application procedures to practise as lawyers and the scope of practice are stipulated by the judicial administration department of the State Council.

The Department of Justice, Photo source: reference image

The Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, said, "The amended Lawyers Law, as a national law, makes clear provision for the GBA lawyers' scheme, thus providing the legal basis to conduct relevant work in respect of the regularisation of the practice regime. I warmly welcome the amendments and express my sincere gratitude to authorities such as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for their strong support to the development of the GBA lawyers' scheme. Since the NPCSC's authorisation of the State Council to conduct a pilot scheme for GBA lawyers, the professional team of GBA lawyers has been growing continuously, contributing efforts to the country's building of the rule of law. The National 15th Five-Year Plan Outline calls for deepening the construction of the GBA and accelerating the development of an international first-class bay area. GBA lawyers with dual practice qualifications can facilitate the interfaces of mechanisms and regulatory frameworks in the GBA, as well as proactively integrating into and contributing to the overall national development."

The Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, Photo source: FB@Paul Lam

The NPCSC decided in August 2020 to authorise the State Council to conduct a pilot scheme for a period of three years. The pilot period would have originally expired in October 2023 and was extended by the NPCSC in August 2023 until October 4 this year. As in June this year, over 650 Hong Kong and Macao lawyers have obtained the Lawyer's License (GBA) and can provide legal services in the nine Mainland municipalities in the GBA on specified civil and commercial matters to which the Mainland laws apply. Currently, there have been GBA lawyers appearing in court as litigation representatives in the nine Mainland municipalities in the GBA and taking up GBA arbitration cases.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Photo source: Xinhua News

The DoJ will continue to maintain close contact with authorities such as the MoJ and the Department of Justice of Guangdong Province, with a view to proactively supporting and complementing the relevant work of the regularisation of the GBA lawyers' scheme.

TD reminds students to allow more journey time on first school day

The Transport Department (TD) today (August 31) urged students to allow more commute time on the first school day tomorrow (September 1) to avoid being late, as overall traffic is anticipated to be busier. Motorists should avoid driving to the vicinity of schools.

A spokesman for the TD said, "Students should familiarise themselves early with public transport routes to and from their schools and the service frequencies, especially those attending a new school. Those taking ferries should further check their vessel types and journey times. Students should take heed of road safety on their journeys, properly use crossing facilities to cross the road, and not use a mobile phone or earphones, play mobile games, eat or drink when crossing the road."

Major public transport operators (PTOs), including railways, franchised buses, ferries and taxis, have been reminded to provide adequate services, and enhance and deploy standby services and manpower when necessary to meet passenger demand. Local franchised bus operators providing services to land boundary control points (BCPs) and cross-boundary coach operators have been reminded to maintain sufficient services for cross-boundary students. Special routes serving school areas will also be resumed.

The operation of the TD's Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre (ETCC) will be escalated to the highest tier, the Joint Steering Mode, tomorrow morning to jointly and closely monitor real-time traffic and public transport services on the first school day in collaboration with the Police and major PTOs. Staff will be deployed at major public transport interchanges, stations, school areas, land BCPs and tunnels across the city for on-site monitoring and, where necessary, service enhancement and implementation of traffic management measures accordingly.

Members of the public are advised to heed the latest traffic news through the TD's website (www.td.gov.hk), the HKeMobility mobile app and radio and television broadcasts, or the service details from the PTOs:

Public transport operator	Hotline	Website
MTR	2881 8888	www.mtr.com.hk
Citybus	2136 8888	www.citybus.com.hk
Kowloon Motor Bus	2745 4466	www.kmb.hk
Long Win Bus	2261 2791	www.kmb.hk
New Lantao Bus	2984 9848	www.nlb.com.hk
Sun Ferry	2131 8181	www.sunferry.com.hk
Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry	2815 6063	hkkf.com.hk

Source: AI-found images