HONG KONG SAR, CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Ralph Sellar, Jason Cheng, Shirley Choi and Grace Jia, Slaughter and May
Courts signed in 1999 and come into operation by the end of 2026. Under the New Arrangement, the court-to-court chan- nel is now streamlined. Judicial documents may be transmitted electronically with the same legal effect as originals, and the entrusted court must complete ser- vice within two months. Where the judicial documents are not in Chinese, a Chinese translation is required. The New Arrangement also introduces several addi- tional service methods, including: • Service by Post: Service is treated as effective where the person to be served signs either the acknowledgement of receipt or the receipt for postal delivery. • Service by Electronic Means: This includes service by email, fax or mobile messaging applications, where the person to be served has consented, provided an electronic address in the submitted statement of claim, appeal petition, application, statement of defence, or demonstrated acceptance by conduct. • Service Through Lawyers or Authorised Bodies: Hong Kong law firms or registered foreign law firms may effect service in Hong Kong for Mainland pro- ceedings, while Mainland law firms or notarisation institutions may do so in the Mainland for Hong Kong proceedings. • Service by Public Announcement (Where Other Methods Fail): Service will be deemed completed 60 days after publication of the announcement. These additional modes are designed to address the practical difficulty of unsuccessful service due to unknown addresses, the absence of parties at reg- istered addresses, or parties whose whereabouts could not be ascertained. The New Arrangement therefore has the potential to make cross-border ser- vice between Hong Kong and Mainland China more efficient, flexible and effective in practice. New Reciprocal Enforcement Regime Between Hong Kong and Mainland China The Mainland Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap. 645) came into force on 29 January 2024 and applies
to judgments given on or after this date. This devel- opment therefore occurred over 12 months ago, but its importance cannot be overstated and its inclusion in this update is warranted. The new regime expands and streamlines the enforceability of Mainland China judgments in Hong Kong, and vice versa, as com- pared with the previous regime under the Mainland Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap. 597). In particular, it: • removes the requirement for an exclusive juris- diction clause in favour of Mainland courts (for the purpose of enforcement in Hong Kong) or in favour of Hong Kong courts (for the purpose of enforcement in Mainland China), hence allowing for recognition of judgments based on “hybrid” (non-exclusive) jurisdiction clauses in commercial contracts; • broadens the scope of application beyond con- tractual disputes to cover a wider range of civil and commercial matters; • covers not only monetary judgments but also non- monetary judgments, such as orders for specific performance and injunctions; and • expands the coverage of judgments to those made by lower courts and tribunals which were not cov- ered previously (including the Competition Tribu- nal, Lands Tribunal, Labour Tribunal, Small Claims Tribunal in Hong Kong, as well as any Primary People’s Court in Mainland China). To enforce a Mainland China judgment in Hong Kong, the applicant will need to apply to the Hong Kong court for a registration order to register the judgment. Main- land judgments or orders of payment, except rulings given in respect of an interim measure, are registrable. Subject to satisfying the procedural requirements and any setting-aside applications, a registered Mainland judgment is treated as if it were a judgment originally given by the Hong Kong Court of First Instance on the day of registration. The new regime was recently applied in HD Hyundai Infracore China Co Ltd v Li Zhiwei [2025] HKCFI 5714, in which the Hong Kong court confirmed that, as was the position under the old regime, the new regime is intended to be straightforward and with a high degree of certainty, without the need of the Hong Kong court
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