The Hong Kong government has proposed allowing the chief executive to certify any criminal act as a national security case, in a legal update that would be binding on the courts.

New subsidiary legislation under Article 23 – Hong Kong’s homegrown national security ordinance – will empower the city’s leader to certify “other offences endangering national security under the law of the HKSAR,” according to a proposal submitted to the Legislative Council (LegCo) on Monday by the Security Bureau and the Department of Justice.

The government proposed that the subsidiary legislation would be enacted through a “negative vetting” procedure, allowing it to be gazetted before being tabled at LegCo for scrutiny. It cited a “complicated geopolitical landscape” for the update.

The “legislative intent” of the Beijing-imposed national security law, which came into effect on June 30, 2020, is that offences endangering national security include not only the four types of offences under the Beijing-imposed national security law but also “other offences endangering national security under the law of the HKSAR,” the government’s proposal said.

The chief executive is already empowered to issue certificates to decide whether an act involves national security, but the new subsidiary legislation aims to “bring greater certainty” to the courts. There will no longer be room to debate whether an ordinary crime could face national security procedures when a certificate is issued.

Plus, later offences connected to an act classified as a national security offence would also face national security procedures, under the new plan.

“The subsidiary legislation does not involve the creation of any new criminal offence, penalty or enforcement power,” the document said.

‘Any act’ can be reclassified

Under the proposal, the chief executive will be granted the power to declare that any act involved in a criminal offence case concerns national security. The leader may then issue a certificate: “[T]hen the case is a case concerning [an] offence endangering national security” under the Beijing-imposed national security law or Article 23,” the proposal says.

“If a person is charged with any offence endangering national security, and is charged with or convicted of any alternative offence in respect of the same act in the same case, such alternative offence is also an offence endangering national security.”

Once a case, or an offence, is certified as endangering national security, the procedures stipulated in Article 23 or the national security law for handling such cases will be applicable.

The national security law allows handpicked judges and closed-door hearings for national security cases, trials without juries, and a higher bar for bail.

The Panel on Security and the Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services will hold a joint meeting later on Monday to discuss the proposed subsidiary legislation.

Ming Pao reported on Sunday that some lawmakers were notified that such a meeting would be held the following day.

Hong Kong’s top decision-making body has proposed a flat 2 per cent pay rise for civil servants across all salary bands this year, lower than the suggested rates for middle-tier and senior government staff.

Secretary for Civil Service Ingrid Yeung said on Tuesday that the chief executive and the Executive Council (ExCo) made the offer, which would take effect retrospectively from April 1 this year, based on a “prudent” approach to public finance.

Yeung said she would meet with staff representatives of the civil service on Wednesday to listen to their feedback regarding the proposed pay rise and report to the ExCo for a final decision.

The proposed pay rise, if finalised, will incur additional government spending of HK$6 billion, Yeung said.

“The government’s finances have improved in the 2025-26 fiscal year, but there are still huge financial undertakings for Hong Kong’s future development,” Yeung said in Cantonese during a press conference.

“Geopolitical changes can also affect residents’ livelihoods within a short period of time, warranting timely government intervention,” she said. “Due to the continued uncertainty in geopolitics, the government must be extra prudent in its approach to public finance.”

The 2026 Pay Trend Survey recommended a 4.12 per cent pay rise for senior staff and 2.64 per cent for mid-level government employees. It suggested a 1.17 per cent pay rise for junior civil servants.

Yeung said the ExCo had given “balanced” consideration to the matter when making the offer, and that the Pay Trend Survey was only one of the factors taken into account.

When asked whether the deadly Tai Po fire in November had affected the proposed pay rise, Yeung said it was difficult to isolate the impact of an individual incident on the ExCo’s decision, which she described as “holistic.”

The government resumed pay rises for civil servants this year following a salary freeze in 2025 amid a three-year fiscal deficit that strained public finances.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan estimated in his annual budget speech in February that the government could see a HK$2.9 billion surplus in the 2025-26 fiscal year.

The civil service last received an across-the-board pay rise, of 3 per cent, in the 2024-25 fiscal year.