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Consultation on Civil Justice Reform Sets Off

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The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:

The problems of excessive cost, delay and complexity pose challenges for reform of the existing civil justice system, the Honourable Mr Justice Patrick Chan, Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, said today (November 29) at the press conference announcing the launching of a 5-month long consultation exercise on civil justice reform.

An about 400 pages Interim Report and Consultative Paper with 80 proposals, together with a bilingual Executive Summary, is published by the Working Party on Civil Justice Reform (WP) for extensive consultation.

"There is no any quick or simple solution. The Report explores a series of possible changes to our rules.

"These include re-defining and simplifying procedural obligations, reducing the number of court hearings before trial, encouraging earlier settlement, introducing greater transparency to litigation costs and giving the court more extensive and flexible powers to manage the progress of cases through the system," Justice Chan said.

The WP, appointed by the Honourable Chief Justice Andrew Kwok-nang Li last February, is tasked to review the civil rules and procedures of the High Court and to recommend changes thereto with a view to ensuring and improving access to justice at reasonable cost and speed.

The focus of the Report is on the procedural rules and machinery which regulate the way in which legal claims are made and defended.

It examines the situation in Hong Kong and reports on developments abroad which are relevant to Hong Kong.

Justice Chan noted in recent years, there had been a growing belief in many common law countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, that the civil justice system was in need of reform.

"The concerns that litigation is seen to be too expensive, to take too long to resolve claims and to be too complex have also been expressed about the civil justice system in Hong Kong.

"The defects affect the citizen's access to justice and may also undermine Hong Kong's competitiveness as a financial and commercial centre.

"These concerns have prompted the Chief Justice to appoint the Working Party to conduct the review," Justice Chan said.

Members of the WP include the Hon Mr Justice Chan (Chairman, Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal); the Hon Mr Justice Ribeiro (Deputy Chairman, Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal); the Hon Mr Justice Rogers (Vice-President of the Court of Appeal); the Hon Mr Justice Seagroatt; the Hon Mr Justice Hartmann and the Hon Madam Justice Chu (Judges of the Court of First Instance of the High Court); Deputy Judge Poon; Mr Geoffrey Ma S.C. (Barrister); Mr Patrick Swain (Solicitor); Mr Ian Wingfield (Member of the Department of Justice); Mr Shu-ying Chan (Member of the Legal Aid Department); Professor Michael Wilkinson; and Mrs Pamela Chan (Lay member).

Justice Chan stressed that the proposals in the document were only ideas for possible reform which were floated to seek the reactions of the legal profession, all interested parties, organisations and the public. They were not recommendations made by the WP.

The Report also reviews alternative forms of dispute resolution and the possibility of annexing such processes to court proceedings.

Justice Chan said the WP believed that adoption of a series of such possible changes in a coordinated and mutually-supporting way was likely to reduce court-related litigation costs, delays and complexity.

The Report also notes that the number of litigants who are not represented by lawyers has been increasing. Many other jurisdictions have experienced a similar increase and such litigants present challenges for the system.

Justice Chan pointed out that the proposals for reform of the rules and procedures discussed in the Report to tackle the problems of excessive cost, delay and complexity would benefit unrepresented litigants as well as represented litigants.

The Report also examines other measures being developed in other jurisdictions towards meeting the needs of unrepresented litigations.

"Many of those measures are not related to the rules and procedures and are therefore outside the remit of the WP.

"But the Judiciary will be considering separately appropriate measures towards meeting their needs in the light of experience elsewhere," Justice Chan said.

Justice Chan also noted the WP did not deal with matrimonial and family disputes which represented a significant aspect of the civil justice system.

Work to improve the way in which such disputes were managed was progressing in parallel, including a pilot scheme for the use of mediation in family disputes and a working group on the reform of ancillary relief procedures in matrimonial cases, he said.

The consultation period would last until the end of April 2002. After the consultation process, the WP would make its recommendations in a Final Report to be submitted to the Chief Justice.

Copies of the document can be obtained from all Courts, the Bar Association, the Law Society and District Offices.

A dedicated website has been set up for the purpose of consultation. The consultative documents can be downloaded from and views can be sent to the website at the address www.civiljustice.gov.hk

End/Thursday, November 29, 2001

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