Family Procedure Bill gazetted
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A Government spokesman said, "Hong Kong's family justice system embraces a wide range of subjects, covering family and matrimonial matters, with the High Court and the Family Court (a division of the District Court) exercising concurrent jurisdiction. The court procedures are currently dispersed over many pieces of principal legislation and multiple subsidiary legislation. In the absence of dedicated rules governing family proceedings, it is not uncommon for parties to spend disproportionate time and costs to address procedural issues peripheral to the issue(s) in dispute. This is not conducive to the efficient disposal of proceedings and promotion of a cultural change towards settlement and alternative dispute resolution.
"To address the current deficiencies in the family justice system, the Bill and the Rules seek to give effect to procedural reforms drawing on recommendations put forward in the Judiciary's Final Report on the Review of Family Procedure Rules (Final Report) published in May 2015," the spokesman added.
The key proposals of the Bill include:
(a) To prescribe major principles and common definitions with general applicability in the reformed procedural regime for the family justice system. For instance, the term "family proceeding" will be given a comprehensive and detailed definition to include matrimonial causes and other relevant proceedings under existing ordinances to which the Rules will apply;
(b) To set out the jurisdiction and powers of the High Court and the Family Court in family proceedings, as well as the procedures on the transfer of proceedings while specifying the best interests of the child involved as the paramount consideration if a child is involved in the proceedings;
(c) To provide for the general practice and procedures relating to family proceedings, such as the mode of hearing for family proceedings, including that they are generally to be heard in private, appeal-related matters and the fallback arrangements in case there are unforeseen circumstances not catered by the Rules;
(d) To provide for the establishment of the Family Procedure Rules Committee (Rules Committee), being the single rule-making authority, to make the Rules to ensure that the rules made are coherent, cohesive and consistent; and
(e) To establish a new Family Masters system by empowering the Registrar and Masters of the Family Court to handle certain procedural work on family-related proceedings, such as amendments to the originating process and time extensions, for the purpose of alleviating the heavy workload of the judges in the Family Court.
The Bill also consequentially amends or repeals certain provisions in existing legislation to ensure compatibility and consistency, as well as to remove any overlap with the Family Procedure Ordinance (the Ordinance) and the Rules as appropriate.
The Government proposes to give effect to the Ordinance in two phases. In the first phase, selected clauses relating to establishment and empowerment of the Rules Committee will come into effect upon enactment of the Ordinance to enable the Rules Committee to discharge its role. In addition, those relating to establishment of the new Family Masters system will commence so as to provide immediate relief to the heavy workload of Family Judges. Furthermore, clauses which provide for preliminary matters and definition of terms to underpin the operation of the above-mentioned clauses will commence in this phase. In the second phase, the remaining clauses will take effect together with the Rules.
Subject to the guidance and deliberation of the Rules Committee (to be established under the Ordinance), the Rules will be put forward for public consultation and suitably refined before they are introduced into the Legislative Council (LegCo).
A public consultation exercise on the draft Bill was launched from February to April 2022, and there was overwhelming support for introduction of the Bill. Among the stakeholders, the Hong Kong Bar Association, the Law Society of Hong Kong, as well as the LegCo Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services indicated their support.
The Bill will be introduced into LegCo for the First Reading and Second Reading on March 15.
The Final Report is available on the Judiciary's website (www.judiciary.hk/doc/en/other_information/fpr/final_report.pdf).
Ends/Friday, March 3, 2023
Issued at HKT 17:30
Issued at HKT 17:30
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