### Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Ordinance 《司法程序(報導限制)條例》

3. Restriction on publication of reports of judicial proceedings
(1) It shall not be lawful to print or publish, or cause or procure to be printed or published—
(a) (Repealed 68 of 1995 s. 6)(b) in relation to any judicial proceedings for dissolution of marriage, for nullity of marriage, or for judicial separation, any particulars other than the following, that is to say— (Amended 80 of 1997 s. 85)
(i) the names, addresses and occupations of the parties and witnesses;
(ii) a concise statement of the charges, defences and counter-charges in support of which evidence has been given;
(iii) submissions on any point of law arising in the course of the proceedings, and the decision of the court thereon;
(iv) the summing-up of the judge and the finding of the jury (if any) and the judgment of the court and observations made by the judge in giving judgment. (Amended 68 of 1995 s. 6)
(2) Any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine at level 3 and to imprisonment for four months: (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)
Provided that no person, other than a proprietor, editor, master printer or publisher, shall be liable to be convicted under this section.
(3) A prosecution under this section shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Secretary for Justice. (Amended L.N. 362 of 1997)
(4) Nothing in this section shall apply to the printing of any pleading, transcript of evidence or other document for use in connection with any judicial proceedings or the communication thereof to persons concerned in the proceedings, or to the printing or publishing of any notice or report in pursuance of the directions of the court; or to the printing or publishing of any matter in any separate volume or part of any bona fide series of law reports which does not form part of any other publication and consists solely of reports of proceedings in courts of law, or in any publication of a technical character bona fide intended for circulation among members of the legal or medical profession.
(Amended 14 of 1973 s. 2)

### Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Ordinance 《司法程序(報導限制)條例》

4. Innocent publication and distribution
(1) A person shall not be guilty of contempt of court on the ground that he has published any matter calculated to interfere with the course of justice in connexion with any proceedings pending or imminent at the time of publication if at that time, having taken all reasonable care, he did not know and had no reason to suspect that the proceedings were pending, or that such proceedings were imminent, as the case may be.
(2) A person shall not be guilty of contempt of court on the ground that he has distributed a publication containing such matter as is mentioned in subsection (1) if at the time of distribution, having taken all reasonable care, he did not know that it contained any such matter as aforesaid and had no reason to suspect that it was likely to do so.
(3) The proof of any fact tending to establish a defence afforded by this section to any person in proceedings for contempt of court shall lie upon that person.
(Added 14 of 1973 s. 2)[cf. 1960 c. 65 s. 11 U.K.]

### Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Ordinance 《司法程序(報導限制)條例》

5. Publication of information relating to proceedings in private
(1) The publication of information relating to proceedings before any court sitting in private shall not of itself be contempt of court except in the following cases, that is to say—
(a) where the proceedings relate to the wardship or adoption of an infant or wholly or mainly to the guardianship, custody, maintenance or upbringing of an infant, or rights of access to an infant;
(ab) subject to subsection (1A), where the proceedings are brought under the Child Abduction and Custody Ordinance (Cap. 512); (Added 16 of 2014 s. 23)
(b) where the proceedings are brought under Part II, IV or IVA of the Mental Health Ordinance (Cap. 136); (Amended 46 of 1988 s. 33)
(c) where the court sits in private for reasons of national security during that part of the proceedings about which the information in question is published;
(d) where the information relates to a secret process, discovery or invention which is in issue in the proceedings;
(e) where the court, having power to do so, expressly prohibits the publication of all information relating to the proceedings or of information of the description which is published.
(1A) The publication of a judgment, in which the identity of a person referred to is kept anonymous, of a competent court in proceedings under the Hague Convention is not of itself contempt of court if—
(a) none of the parties to those proceedings objects to that publication; and
(b) the court has made an order authorizing that publication. (Added 16 of 2014 s. 23)
(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1), the publication of the text or a summary of the whole or part of an order made by a court sitting in private shall not of itself be contempt of court except where the court, having power to do so, expressly prohibits the publication.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as implying that any publication is punishable as contempt of court which would not be so punishable apart from this section.
(4) In subsection (1A)—
Hague Convention (《海牙公約》) means the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction signed at The Hague on 25 October 1980. (Added 16 of 2014 s. 23)
(Added 14 of 1973 s. 2)[cf. 1960 c. 65 s. 12 U.K.]

### Mining Ordinance 《礦務條例》

1. Short title
This Ordinance may be cited as the Mining Ordinance.

### Mining Ordinance 《礦務條例》

3. Property in and control of minerals declared to be vested in the Government
It is hereby declared that the entire property in and control of all minerals and mineral oils in, under or upon any lands or under any waters within Hong Kong is vested in the Government, save in so far as such property and control may be limited by any express grant by the Government.
(Amended 29 of 1998 s. 105; 57 of 1999 s. 3)

4. Prospecting and mining restricted
Save as provided in this Ordinance, no person shall prospect or mine in, under or upon any lands or under any waters within Hong Kong.
(Amended 57 of 1999 s. 3)

5. Ordinance not to apply to mineral oils
Nothing in this Ordinance shall be construed so as to confer any right to prospect for or to win any mineral oil.

6. Saving of sacred areas, trees and other objects of veneration
(1) Nothing in this Ordinance shall be construed so as to sanction prospecting or mining in, under or upon any area held to be sacred or to sanction the injury or destruction of any tree or other thing which is the object of veneration.
(2) If any question arises under this section as to whether any area is held to be sacred or whether any tree of other thing is the object of veneration, such question shall be referred to the Director of Home Affairs, whose decision shall be final. (Amended L.N. 18 of 1983; L.N. 262 of 1989; L.N. 621 of 1994)