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Legal Updates
Summary of Key Changes in 2013 HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules (effective from 1 November 2013)
This article summarises key changes which arbitration practitioners and clients should be aware of in the revised administered arbitration rules recently unveiled by the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (“HKIAC”). The revised rules (the “2013 HKIAC Rules”), finalised after a revision process and consultation period…Read More
What you need to know about the latest changes to the Trade Descriptions Ordinance
The latest amendments to the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (“TDO”) came into effect in Hong Kong on 19 July 2013. The amendments: widened the scope of the TDO; introduced new offences, including misleading omissions, aggressive commercial practices, bait advertising, bait and switch, and wrongly accepting payment;…Read More
High Court dismisses claims against senior employees and confirms provisions of Employment Ordinance are part of the mandatory employment laws of Hong Kong
Summary In a judgment, the Court of First Instance dismissed claims that a group of senior employees had breached their contractual and fiduciary duties by resigning and signing contracts to work for the same employer on the same day. The Court also confirmed that an…Read More
Business Visa requirements for Hong Kong visits
Introduction Recently in the litigation department, a client asked what type of visa to apply for if he intends to travel to Hong Kong for business purposes including, for example, to attend seminars and trade shows, look for business opportunities, meet clients or suppliers based…Read More
Corporate Rescue in Hong Kong: What will it eventually look like?
Introduction Unlike many other common law jurisdictions, Hong Kong still lacks a statutory corporate rescue regime, despite a proposal for one first having been made by the Law Reform Commission in 1996 and a proposed bill containing a corporate rescue regime subsequently being introduced in…Read More
Legal update: Does the ‘new’ cause of action for general harassment open Pandora’s Box?
The judgment in the case of Lau Tat Wai v Yip Lai Kuen, Joey handed down on 24 April 2013 appears to be a watershed in the development of a general law of harassment. New development Prior to this judgment there had been no authoritative…Read More
Directors and Officers Beware Liability for Wage Payment Offences by Company
24 February 2015 Directors and officers of companies with staff in Hong Kong should be aware that they may be held criminally liable and ordered to personally pay arrears in wages if their company commits wage payment offences with their consent or connivance or due…Read More
Conditional MT 103? No Siree!
“Until that moment I hadn’t paid much attention to what he’d been eating. Now I saw he’d ordered the best thing in the house, this gorgeous, frothy confection of an earlier age. Who ever dreamed up the deviled egg? Who knew that a simple egg…Read More
Legal update: Chinese domain names
Has this happened to you? Someone calls and says he is the local affiliate of an accredited Chinese domain name registration agency. He tells you he noticed someone trying to register your company’s name as a ‘.com.cn’ and/or ‘.cn’ domain name with CNNIC (China Internet…Read More
Legal update: Aircraft Liens – The Oasis Judgment
The word “lien” can be described in layman’s terms as a right, often arising by operation of law rather than under contract, to retain the property of another party until that other party pays his debts. The word also enjoys a second, rather more obscure,…Read More
Adverse Possession: Mind Your Property
How is it possible that someone can end up rightfully possessing land by being a trespasser? Strange as it may be, this is possible under the centuries-old doctrine of adverse possession. Adverse possession allows someone to obtain a right to possess land by occupying it…Read More
Legal update: Adverse Costs Consequences in Discrimination Claims
The recent decision of Chan Wai Ho v Civil Service Bureau shows an increasing and important trend in the court’s approach to ordering costs against unsuccessful parties in discrimination cases. Facts of the Case The above case of Chan Wai Ho v Civil Service Bureau…Read More