This Week in Asian Law

January 16-22


China

  • China authorized its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels and destroy structures on features it claims in the newly passed Coast Guard Law. The law also authorizes the coast guard to demolish other countries’ structures built on reefs and islands claimed by China and to seize or order foreign vessels illegally entering China’s territorial waters to leave.

  • A draft Legal Aid Law was reviewed for the first time by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee at its recent 25th Session. The draft law clarifies the concept of legal aid and who provides it, expands the scope of legal aid, addresses the role of duty lawyers, and improves the procedures and supporting measures for legal aid. Article 22 of the draft law expands the scope of persons eligible for court-appointed lawyers to include all defendants in ordinary procedures who contest their cases and defendants in death penalty review procedures. (in Chinese)

  • China’s Supreme People’s Court released an Opinion on Strengthening Juvenile Adjudication Work in the New Era, which addresses the protection of juveniles’ rights in criminal, civil, and administrative cases. The Opinion requires courts to designate specialized tribunals (if they have sufficient capacity) or specialized collegial panels or teams of judges to handle cases involving juveniles. One provision that has already sparked public controversy authorizes juvenile courts to handle criminal cases where the suspect is a college student under the age of 22 at the time the case is filed with the court. (in Chinese)

  • China’s Supreme People’s Court and Ministry of Justice jointly released an Opinion on Providing Lawyers with One-Stop Litigation Service. They simultaneously launched a People’s Court Lawyers Service Platform that offers 35 kinds of online services for lawyers, including registering cases, applying for mediation or hearings, accessing case files, submitting evidence, requesting the court to collect evidence, checking digital service material, and so on. So far, 80% of courts nationwide have the capacity to provide online access to case files, while 71% have enabled online hearings. (in Chinese)

Hong Kong

Japan

  • Japan’s Cabinet has approved bills that would amend several key public health laws, including the Infectious Diseases Prevention Law, in order to increase government authority to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Most controversial is a provision that would allow a prison sentence of up to a year for persons who test positive for the virus but refuse to be hospitalized. The bills await consideration in the Diet.

  • The Tokyo District Court confirmed the constitutionality of a provision in the Nationality Law that effectively bans dual citizenship for Japanese nationals. It provides: “A Japanese national will lose Japanese citizenship when the individual obtains a foreign citizenship on his or her own will.” The law had been challenged by eight plaintiffs who live in Europe. They argued that the provision violates Article 22 of the Constitution, which guarantees “the right of expatriation.” The court said this clause merely prevents the government from interfering with a citizen who wants to renounce Japanese citizenship.

  • Japan is considering revising its penal code to penalize sex crimes against intellectually disabled persons without heavily relying on the testimonies of the victims. A review committee on criminal law relating to sexual crimes, set up by the Justice Ministry in March, is discussing whether the content and procedures of the penal code should be reviewed in light of the realities of sexual abuse. Concerned parties said a new provision to the penal code should criminalize sexual acts committed in the knowledge that the victim is intellectually disabled. They said the law must take into account the gaps in knowledge and judgment levels between the offenders and the victims.

Koreas

Taiwan