Overseas lawyers will need approval to handle cases under Hong Kong’s Article 23 national security law, justice minister says

The proposed law is on this year’s Legislative Council agenda and will cover treason, the theft of state secrets and the influence of foreign political groups in local affairs.

It will supplement the 2020 Beijing-imposed legislation which prohibits acts of secession, sedition, subversion and also covers treason.

Lam told a television programme that defendants charged under the future legislation would be subject to some of the same requirements under the 2020 national security law, such as applying for permission to hire an overseas lawyer and stricter bail conditions.

Under the revised Legal Practitioners Ordinance, overseas lawyers must obtain a “Notice of Permission to Proceed” from Hong Kong’s leader before filing an ad hoc application to the city’s courts for approval.

The courts must then seek a certificate from the chief executive before granting the lawyer permission to take on the relevant case.

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Lam on Saturday said the amendment already spelled out that the requirement would cover cases involving offences that endangered national security.

“Therefore [the requirement] is not limited to the national security law,” he said, citing how defendants charged under the colonial-era sedition law also needed permission to hire overseas legal counsel.

Defendants charged under the Article 23 security law would also be subject to the same bail application threshold from the Beijing-decreed legislation, which covers all “cases concerning national security”, he said.

Under the threshold, a judge can only grant bail if they have sufficient grounds to believe a defendant will not commit further acts that endanger national security.

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During the programme, Lam was asked if the Hong Kong law would allow for cases to be sent to the mainland to be heard, similar to what is provided in the Beijing-imposed national security legislation.

Under Article 55 of the law, Beijing can exercise jurisdiction over a case if the central government approves a request from city authorities.

Lam noted that the clause stipulates Beijing can only handle cases concerning offences listed “under this law”.

“Apparently, the scope of Article 55 only applies to the four offences under the national security law,” he said.

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On the need to add a similar provision to the Article 23 law, Lam said they were still studying the issue but stressed that it was important to ensure the Article 23 legislation squared up with the Beijing-imposed law.

“The Article 23 legislation must be compatible with the national security law as they, altogether, will form our legal framework in safeguarding national security.”

The provision in both laws should connect with each other, with the government to determine how to implement this principle as they drafted a bill, he added.