2024 gba examination for hong kong and macao legal professionals marks new opportunities for cross-jurisdictional legal services integration in greater bay area
The 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Professional Examination (GBA Examination) was held today (June 29).
The Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, said, "The GBA Examination held this year is the first examination held after the period of the pilot scheme for Hong Kong and Macao legal practitioners to practise in the nine Mainland municipalities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) was extended, and the practice experience threshold for enrolling in the GBA Examination was lowered, in September last year.
"As more Hong Kong legal practitioners pass the GBA Examination and obtain practice qualifications to provide legal services in the nine Mainland municipalities in the GBA, this can help these Hong Kong legal practitioners with dual qualifications to integrate into the national development and utilise their abundant experience in handling cross-jurisdictional legal matters, contributing to the building of a pool of foreign-related legal talent in the GBA for the country."
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) decided in August 2020 to authorise the State Council to conduct a pilot scheme for eligible Hong Kong and Macao legal practitioners to provide legal services in the nine Mainland municipalities in the GBA on certain civil and commercial matters to which Mainland laws apply, after passing the GBA Examination and having obtained the Lawyer's License (GBA). The pilot scheme was for a period of three years, and would have originally expired on October 4 last year. The NPCSC passed a decision in September last year to extend the period of the pilot scheme until October 4, 2026. The General Office of the State Council also published the revised pilot measures in September last year, which lowered the practice experience threshold for Hong Kong and Macao legal practitioners to enrol in the GBA Examination from five years to three years.
