Hong Kong seeks to define scope of national security cases ‘as soon as possible’

The Hong Kong government has sought to clarify what constitutes national security cases in a new round of proposed subsidiary legislation.Security and justice authorities submitted the proposed amendments under the city’s national security laws to the Legislative Council on Monday. The proposal introduces a classification mechanism for “other offences endangering national security”, under which any case accompanied by a certificate from the chief executive confirming it involved national security would fall into this category.Any alternative offence faced by a defendant in a national security case will also be classified as such.The subsidiary legislation will undergo a negative vetting process and come into effect on the day of its gazettal, while the government said it would complete the legislative process “as soon as possible” without specifying a timeline.“Amid a complex geopolitical landscape, national security risks persist. Clearly setting out the above mechanism through subsidiary legislation will improve Hong Kong’s legal framework and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security,” the government document said.“[Hong Kong] should complete the legislative process for the relevant subsidiary legislation as soon as possible, the sooner the better, to safeguard national security effectively.”In March, the government gazetted the first substantial changes to the implementation rules of the national security law since it took effect in 2020. A minor technical amendment related to frozen property was made in 2023.