In rare move, Hong Kong justice department seeks mainland legal advice in joint checkpoint fight

If successful, application to call expert witness could boost NPCSC’s power to hand down binding decisions on city and its courts

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Though sparked by disagreements over the joint checkpoint plan for the West Kowloon terminus, the case could have long-term implications on the NPCSC’s ability to hand down binding decisions. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 11:14am, 9 Jul 2018Updated: 11:27pm, 9 Jul 2018

A high-profile legal dispute arising from the Hong Kong government’s plan to make national laws applicable in one of the city’s rail terminuses is likely to become a battleground for mainland experts with diverging opinions.

A preliminary High Court hearing on Monday confirmed what the Post earlier reported: that Hong Kong’s justice department is seeking to call on a mainland legal expert to provide expertise in support of its case.

Five judicial reviews have been filed against what is known as the “co-location” arrangement, in which mainland officers will be allowed to enforce mainland laws in a section of the West Kowloon rail terminus for an express link connecting Hong Kong and mainland China.

The plan was partly made possible by a decision by Beijing’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, handed down in December last year, which said the arrangement did not violate the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.

The Department of Justice is represented by Benjamin Yu SC. Photo: David Wong

But critics said the plan to put in force mainland laws in Hong Kong amounted to a contravention of the Basic Law, with at least one applicant behind the judicial challenges, activist Hendrick Lui Chi-hang, arguing the decision had no “legal status” in Hong Kong.