Remarks by SJ at media session (with video)

     Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, at a media session at the "Rule of Law: The Best Business Environment" under Hong Kong Legal Week 2024 today (November 8):

Reporter: How effective is incorporating a new mediation clause into government contracts? What additional resources are needed and how much time or money does it actually save? And what sort of government contracts will it benefit the most?

Secretary for Justice: It would be a general policy that in the future, all government contracts will contain a mediation clause. The fact is that in case any dispute arises, the Government will try to resolve those disputes by mediation first, and only if mediation fails may we resort to litigation, arbitration or other means of dispute resolution. I am very confident that if people are willing to use more mediation to resolve disputes, that will certainly save time and cost, because I am speaking from experience.

     The importance of this policy is to show to people that the Government is willing to take the lead in the hope that we can cultivate the culture in society as a whole. So whenever people encounter disputes, the first thing that they would consider is not to go to court, but instead to try to resolve disputes by mediation, by a means which in our belief is more economical, more time-saving, and resulting in a more harmonious result. So I think that is my answer to your question.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)