Official Languages Ordinance

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Official Languages Ordinance
Coat of arms of Hong Kong (1959-1997).svg
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
  • An Ordinance to provide for the official languages of Hong Kong, and for their status and use.
Citation Cap. 5
Enacted by Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Commenced15 February 1974
Legislative history
Introduced by Secretary for Home Affairs Denis Campbell Bray
Introduced11 January 1974
First reading 30 January 1974
Second reading 13 February 1974
Third reading 13 February 1974
Amended by
1975, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2011, 2017 [1]
Status: Current legislation

The Official Languages Ordinance is an ordinance of Hong Kong enacted for the purpose of specifying the status and use of official languages of the territory. Both Chinese and English are declared official languages with equal status in the ordinance, and are to be used in communication between the government and members of the public. [2] It dictates that all ordinances would be enacted and published in both languages, [3] and allows judicial officers the choice of using either language in court proceedings. [4]

Contents

History

While no law existed prior to 1974 to designate official languages in Hong Kong, by practice, English was the sole language used in all branches of the British colonial government. Under public pressure, the Official Languages Ordinance was enacted in 1974 to declare that both English and Chinese may be used in communication between the government and the public. Despite the usage of different varieties of Chinese when speaking, the government chose not to specify any variety, instead choosing to use the term "Chinese" in order to allow ambiguity as to what variety or varieties of Chinese are to be accepted. Since most of the local population spoke Cantonese, it became the most frequently used variety to represent "Chinese" in official oral communication. [5] In writing, however, "Chinese" nearly always refers to Written Vernacular Chinese.

Following the introduction of the ordinance, application was uneven. Ordinances continued to be published in English only until the 1980s and Chinese could not be used procedurally in the courts until an amendment made in 1995. [6] In 2020, there was a marked departure from the ordinance when the Hong Kong National Security Law was passed. It was officially published in the Hong Kong Government Gazette solely in Chinese, with the Xinhua News Agency later confirming that the Chinese version of the National Security Law would prevail over the unofficial English translation of it in interpretation. [7]

References

  1. ↑ "Enactment History of Cap. 5 Official Languages Ordinance". Cap. 5 Official Languages Ordinance. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Official Languages Ordinance, Official languages and their status and use (Cap 5, Section 3)". HKSAR Department of Justice . Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  3. ↑ "Official Languages Ordinance, Enactment of Ordinances in both official languages (Cap 5, Section 4)". HKSAR Department of Justice. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  4. ↑ "Official Languages Ordinance, Judicial proceedings (Cap 5, Section 5)". HKSAR Department of Justice. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  5. ↑ Peter Dickson and Alister Cumming (1996). "National Profiles of Language Education in 25 Countries" (PDF). National Foundation for Educational Research. p. 41. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "Why are most of the top court's judgments still only available in English?". South China Morning Post. 16 September 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  7. ↑ "Chinese text of national security law prevails over English". Young Post. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2025– via South China Morning Post.
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