No deal on civil court judgments

A Hong Kong resident who loses a civil lawsuit on the mainland might have his assets seized to pay the plaintiff under rules being negotiated by the mainland and Hong Kong governments. But the two sides are split on the extent to which such rules would apply.

The mainland side wants them to cover a wider range of cases than Hong Kong is willing to concede.

Huang Songyou, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, said the two governments were negotiating an agreement on mutual recognition and reciprocal enforcement of civil judgments.

Speaking after a meeting with a Hong Kong Bar Association delegation, he said the rules, if adopted, would require a Hong Kong court to seize assets of the losing party to meet the plaintiff's claim, even if the former owned nothing on the mainland. A mainland court would be obliged to do the same in the case of a Hong Kong judgment.

Mr Huang said mainland authorities wanted the agreement to cover civil cases such as libel, commercial and labour disputes, while Hong Kong wanted to restrict it to certain types of civil cases.

He did not elaborate on Hong Kong's stance, and the city's Justice Department could not comment, saying it had no information on the matter.