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Appendix: Interviewee’s Opinions

Appendix: Interviewee’s Opinions

1. Regarding the legal integration of GBA, in what areas do you wish to further promote
cooperation with the Mainland in legal affairs in the future? What are the difficulties in

implementation? What are the key areas of concern?

Legal integration in the GBA can be promoted in many ways, such as institutional integration, convergence

of regulations, cooperation between lawyers from two regions, and integration among regulatory bodies.
In terms of institutional integration, there are currently big differences between the two systems. Take the

differences in the systems of judicial proceedings as an example, the issue of mutual legal assistance would
allow us a peek of such differences. Since the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, Hong Kong and the Mainland

have been exploring incessantly issues such as mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and
commercial cases, but it was not until recently that the Government of the Hong Kong SAR indicated that the

Mainland Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance would come into
operation on January 29, 2024. At present, the cooperation and integration of the judicial systems of the two

regions have gradually become a developing trend, yet there are still rather big differences between the Mainland
and Hong Kong in their judicial litigation systems. The judicial authorities of the two regions need to sort them

out and set up corresponding mechanisms to overcome the problems brought by them.
At present, the solution to resolving these differences in the litigation systems are gradually put on the

agenda. For example, there has already been dialogues between the Department of Justice of the Government of
the Hong Kong SAR and The Supreme People’s Court of the PRC on the issue of service of process. The Law

Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Bar Association need to be involved in pushing forward to resolve the
differences between the litigation systems.

For the convergence of regulations, it will take a longer time to achieve full legal integration due to the large
differences in the two systems. The judicial bodies and trade associations of the two regions need to delineate

the legal and regulatory differences between them, to facilitate mutual exchanges, mutual learning and mutual
reference. For example, in respect of the sharing of case profits, it is more common for Mainland lawyers to

share profits among themselves, while similar practices do not exist in Hong Kong. Another example is in the
handling of relevant business accounting matters by a law firm, the Mainland adopts more lenient standards,

while Hong Kong is stricter. The lawyers’ associations of the two regions can exchange opinions and seek ways

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