Latest news with #AndrewCheungKui-nung
South China Morning Post
22-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong should up its game in sports law to nurture sector: chief justice says
Hong Kong should improve its sports-related laws and regulations to align with international standards and address the increasingly complex demands of the emerging sector, the chief justice has said. Andrew Cheung Kui-nung said on Saturday that improving the legal environment was crucial as sports had evolved into 'a massive industry'. He cited competition rules, athletes' rights, commercial contracts and arbitration mechanisms as areas of focus. 'As Hong Kong athletes continue to achieve great success in the international sports arena, the influence of the sports industry is growing day by day,' he said at the opening ceremony of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Lawyers Sports Meet. 'The legal industry must develop in parallel to meet the increasingly complex demands of sports law.' He said developments included formulating and improving laws and regulations to ensure fairness in sports and the protection of athletes' rights. The industry also needed to provide professional legal support and dispute resolution mechanisms. He said the efforts aimed to align the city with international standards and lay a solid foundation for the long-term development of the sports sector. The top judge also said that sports and the rule of law shared a commitment to fairness and justice.
South China Morning Post
26-01-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Why Hong Kong need not get defensive about national security
Published: 9:30am, 27 Jan 2025 In the eight-and-a-half years that I led InvestHK, the major factor we always put front and centre in our pitch to potential foreign investors was Hong Kong's legal system: rule of law, use of common law, innocent until proven guilty in criminal cases, respect for private property rights including intellectual property, enforceability of contracts and so on, all administered by an independent judiciary. In our annual opinion surveys asking foreign companies why they had set up here and what they most liked, the legal system came top of the polls year after year, neck and neck with our low and simple taxes. Because the legal system is at the heart of Hong Kong's success as an international financial and business centre, and because Hong Kong's strength is so important to China's development, those who wish China ill turn their big guns against us, in particular against our judiciary . It explains why US lawmakers have pushed to sanction some of judges and run a non-stop barrage of false criticism. It explains why British judges have come under pressure to quit our Court of Final Appeal. At the ceremony last week to mark the opening of the new legal year, Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung referred to the 'orchestrated harassment and pressures' some judges faced. But he assured the public that the quality of the judiciary and its independence had not weakened. He regretted the departure of some of the overseas non-permanent judges who sit on the top court. Recruiting replacements would be tough in the geopolitical environment, he said, but even without them, our legal system would remain robust given Hong Kong's large pool of qualified legal professionals steeped in common law. The Hong Kong Bar Association outgoing chairman, Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, has described our judges as 'first class' and urged the public to have confidence in their performance. He also had two pieces of advice for the authorities.
