U.S.-Asia Law Institute

August 09 – August 15

China's Supreme People’s Court issues its first judicial interpretation of the Ecological Environment Code that takes effect this week; Hong Kong's Court of Appeal allows eleven jailed pro-democracy figures to appeal their national security convictions to the city's top court; Japan revises its seed law to halt unauthorized exports of prized crop varieties; South Korea’s election commission rejects all opposition petitions seeking to overturn the results of June local elections; Taiwan's opposition-controlled legislature passes the central government budget after a record 350-day delay, including controversial funding to develop a domestic defense drone industry; Taiwan's Constitutional Court, reduced to five participating justices by the legislature's blockade of judicial nominees, strikes down rules that had barred prosecutions for child sexual abuse.