A Government spokesperson said today (September 24) that the Court of Appeal had earlier handed down the judgment regarding the judicial review case concerning the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the development of public housing on part of the former Fanling Golf Course Site, upholding the judgment of the Court of First Instance which quashed the decision of the Director of Environmental Protection (the Director) in approving the EIA report of the project. The judgment provides clear legal guidance on issues including the applicable criteria under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (Cap. 499) (the Ordinance), the statutory public consultation procedures for additional information relating to an EIA report, and procedural fairness. Having holistically considered legal advice and conducted a cautious assessment, the Government has decided not to appeal against the judgment.

     The spokesperson added that the judgment had clarified a number of important legal principles under Hong Kong’s EIA regime, including that not all additional information outside an EIA report is required to be included in the statutory public consultation process; rather, this depends on the circumstances of each case. In respect of this judicial review case, the Court considered that the original EIA report contained deficiencies which could have been cured by the additional information. Based on the principle of fairness, it was necessary to conduct a further but limited public consultation on the additional information. The Environmental Protection Department will carefully study the legal guidance set out in the judgment and will strictly adhere to the Ordinance and the legal principles established by the Court in carrying out EIA approval work in the future, thereby maintaining the reasonableness, legality, transparency and credibility of Hong Kong's EIA regime.

     The spokesperson pointed out that, as the judgment had in effect overturned the approval granted by the Director for the EIA report for the proposed public housing development project, the Government shall review the way forward for the proposed development plan for public housing, including factors such as the impacts on the scale and timing of the development resulting from the non-approval of the EIA report. The Government will announce the way forward at an appropriate time.

Ends/Thursday, September 24, 2026
Issued at HKT 16:00

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