October 30-November 5
China
The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) approved revisions to the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests following two drafts and rounds of public consultation. The revision, which added 25 new articles to the previous 61 articles and updated some existing articles, takes effect on January 1, 2023. Highlights include improved provisions on sexual harassment, maternity rights, anti-abduction and human trafficking, and property rights. An unofficial English translation by China Law Translate can be found here.
The NPC Standing Committee is soliciting public comments on the following bills through November 29: draft amendment to the Legislation Law [立法法]; draft Barrier-Free Environments Development Law [无障碍环境建设法]; draft revision to the Administrative Reconsideration Law [行政复议法]; and draft Reservists Law [预备役人员法]. The Standing Committee holds its next regularly scheduled session in late December.
The Cyberspace Administration of China issued a “notice on effectively strengthening the governance of cyber violence” requiring network platforms to improve their ability to identify, stop, and prevent cyber violence.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate released five typical cases involving money laundering crimes. Since 2020, the number of money laundering crimes has risen sharply. From January to September this year, a total of 1,462 people were prosecuted, up 142.5% compared to last year.
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration released for public comment a new draft of its Patent Examination Guidelines. Some highlights include explaining how patent term adjustment and patent term extension will work, providing for partial designs, and late priority claims; it deletes the 15-day mail delay for electronically-delivered documents. Comments are due December 15, 2022.
Hong Kong
China’s Foreign Ministry and the Hong Kong government signed an agreement to establish a preparatory office in Hong Kong for a new treaty-based “international court of conciliation” that will serve as a platform for the peaceful settlement of international disputes. The ministry said it had reached consensus with an unspecified number of “like-minded” countries to establish the first intergovernmental organization specializing in mediation rather than arbitration or litigation. According to a Foreign Ministry statement, the new International Organization for Mediation Preparatory Office in Hong Kong has been tasked with organizing negotiations for an international convention to formally create the planned “court of conciliation.”
After nearly three years of pandemic restrictions, Hong Kong officials bent the rules for visitors attending special events including the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit, Fintech Week and the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament. The VIPs were allowed to skip mandatory quarantine, causing some local grumbling.
A District Court judge in the sedition trial of two former top editors of Stand News allowed the prosecution to enter 17 allegedly seditious articles in evidence even though ten were published more than six months before the sedition charges were brought. Defense counsel had argued that the older articles should be time-barred, but the prosecution said the older reports are evidence of a “continuous” conspiracy offense. The articles included interviews with self-exiled or jailed pro-democracy politicians, commentaries, and news stories.
Another defendant in Hong Kong’s largest national security case, involving 47 pro-democracy figures, has changed his plea to guilty, bringing to 30 the number who have filed guilty pleas. Former district councillor Ng Kin-wai told his decision to a three-judge panel at the High Court in one of the final case management hearings in the matter. Most of the defendants - who are politicians and activists - have been detained for more than 20 months. They have been charged under the National Security Law for holding an unofficial legislative primary poll in July 2020. The trial of those pleading not guilty is expected to start early next year.
The Education Bureau issued a circular to all schools in Hong Kong announcing details of a requirement for newly appointed teachers to pass a Basic Law and National Security Law Test starting from the 2023-24 school year. New teachers have already been tested on the Basic Law. The new test requirement applies to teachers in schools that receive government support as well as government-run schools, thereby affecting some of the city’s best-known private and church-run schools.
Japan
More high courts have ruled that disparities in the numbers of voters per legislative seat are unconstitutional, but have stopped short of nullifying the results of July elections for the House of Councillors, the upper house in the Diet. Sixteen lawsuits challenging the elections have been making their way through courts around the country. So far, high courts in Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka, and Hiroshima have judged the disparities in vote weight to be in a “state of unconstitutionality,” while those in Nagoya and Takamatsu and the Matsue branch of the Hiroshima High Court have ruled the disparities constitutional.
The Supreme Court has ordered a temporary halt to the practice of disposing of case files after it was revealed that family courts have discarded historically valuable materials related to juvenile cases. Supreme Court regulations say that records of incidents involving minors should only be preserved until the person involved reaches age 26. However, documents of historical value must be kept beyond the limit and even in perpetuity.
The Tokyo government began issuing partnership certificates to same sex-couples on Nov. 1. Several prefectures already have some form of partnership system. The addition of Japan’s capital and most populous city means that more than 60% of the population has access to such certificates, which do not provide the legal protections of marriage but may allow same-sex couples to benefit from some services and government programs.
Japan’s ruling coalition, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, said there is not enough time to submit a bill to regulate religious groups’ demands for donations during the current parliamentary session. The ruling camp is unwilling to adopt the opposition’s proposal to limit the amount of donations and criminally punish coercive practices. They have agreed to revise the consumer contract law to expand the scope of the right to revoke contracts concluded through so-called spiritual sales. The use of coercive collection methods by churches has received attention since the accused assassin of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his mother gave the family’s savings to the Unification Church.
Koreas
South Korea’s ruling People’s Power Party said it would seek to revise the security and disaster management law after 156 people were killed in a stampede during Halloween celebrations in a nightlife district of Seoul. One day earlier, President Yoon Suk-yeol asked for a system to guarantee crowd control when there is no organizing entity behind the event that draws the crowd. Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, and the head of the National Police Agency have made public apologies.
South Korea's antitrust regulator, the Fair Trade Commission, said it is fining two accommodation booking platforms, Booking.com and Agoda, 2.5 million won ($1,751) each for failing to inform customers that their search results were based on advertising.
The US Supreme Court rejected a bid by a businessman to block his extradition to South Korea to face embezzlement charges stemming from a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people. Yoo Hyuk-Kee, also known as Keith Yoo, had been a fugitive for six years before his July 2020 arrest at his home in Pound Ridge, New York, where the US permanent resident lived.
Taiwan
Democratic Progressive Party legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) called on the Ministry of the Interior to create new safety guidelines for spontaneous mass gatherings after a stampede at a Halloween street party in South Korea killed 156 people. He said Taiwan must minimize public safety risks as health authorities phase out COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, which could result in large crowds gathering to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
The Executive Yuan approved an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters with the Republic of Palau. The agreement was concluded in August during the visit of a Palau delegation to Taipei. It now goes to the Legislative Yuan for review.