THE nation’s Supreme People’s Court and the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region yesterday signed an arrangement on reciprocal recognition and enforcement of civil judgments in matrimonial and family cases, marking a new milestone in promoting mutual legal assistance.

The arrangement, which aims to ensure that parties in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland can enforce relevant civil judgments in matrimonial and family cases through a clear and effective legal regime, was signed by the court’s Executive Vice President Shen Deyong and Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen.

Shen said that after taking effect, the arrangement can bring more tangible benefits to people in both places by reducing the burden of multiplicity of suits, and further enhance judicial mutual trust between the two places.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, the signing can be seen as another significant effort to implement and enrich the principle of “one country, two systems” in the form of legal documents, he said.

He expressed the hope that the legal profession in both places would continue to uphold that principle, scrupulously observe the Constitution and the Basic Law, and work for an overall system of mutual legal assistance.

Yuen said the negotiation and signing of the arrangement demonstrated that the differences between the two legal systems are no obstacle to cooperation, if both sides can foster mutual understanding and respect in accordance with the spirit of “one country, two systems.”

“Not only is the signing of the arrangement today an important milestone in the context of mutual legal assistance between the two places, it is also the most recent example of the successful implementation of the Basic Law,” he said.

In view of factors that include the rising number of cross-boundary marriages and the increasing proportion of families having assets in both the mainland and in Hong Kong, different sectors in the two places were in general agreement that there is a pressing need to make an arrangement on reciprocal recognition and enforcement of civil judgments in matrimonial and family cases, Yuen said.

He said such an arrangement can provide clearer legal protection for relevant family members, especially underage children, when problems arise from such marriages, and the parties’ legal rights will not be prejudiced by cross-boundary factors or differences between the two legal systems.

The arrangement will cover orders on individual identity and relationships, maintenance orders, custody orders in respect of children and protection orders in cases involving domestic violence.

After the signing ceremony, local legislative procedures were to begin so as to implement the arrangement.

Yuen said mutual legal assistance between the two places in civil and commercial matters entered a new stage in March last year when the court signed minutes with the Department of Justice agreeing to take forward work that included an arrangement on taking evidence in civil and commercial matters signed in December last year, as well as the arrangement signed yesterday.