Hong Kong Government Gazette


The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Gazette is the official publication of the Government of Hong Kong. Published by the Government Logistics Department, it acts as an official channel to promulgate information which is required for statutory or other reasons to be made public, including legislation, ordinances, appointments of major officials and public notices.
It is normally published on Fridays.

Contents

The Gazette consists of seven parts:
  • Main Gazette – contains government notices on appointments, departmental notices and public tenders;
  • Legal Supplement No. 1 – newly enacted or amended ordinances passed by the Legislative Council;
  • Legal Supplement No. 2 – newly enacted or amended regulations passed by the Legislative Council;
  • Legal Supplement No. 3 - bills;
  • Special Supplement No. 4 - lists of certain categories of professionals and establishments whose names are required by law to be published in the Gazette periodically;
  • Special Supplement No. 5 - Draft Bills, Executive Orders, Orders of the State Council, etc; and
  • Supplement No. 6 - public notices on matters such as liquidation, bankruptcy and transfer of business, that can be placed by members of the public at a fee.
Regular issues of the Gazette are usually published every Friday, except when a public holiday falls on Friday. Gazette Extraordinaries might also be published in between regular issues to carry important notices. Gazette Extraordinaries were previously published on need basis, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, these have been increased to a daily basis so that statutory notices of compulsory COVID-19 testing for specific groups of people could be promulgated.

History

The current form of Hong Kong's government gazette began on 24 September 1853 when the Hongkong Government Gazette started publication, following a proclamation by William Caine, the Colonial Secretary, that it would become "the only Official Organ of Proclamations, Notifications, and all Public Papers of this Government". Prior to this, the Hongkong Gazette was an earlier government gazette in British Hong Kong, which was amalgamated with the Friend of China in 1842. The Friend of China remained the government gazette between 1842 and 1845.
When Hong Kong became the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997, the Hong Kong Government Gazette was renamed the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Gazette. The format remained largely unchanged but the serial numbering of volumes started anew from Volume 1.
Old records are kept by libraries around the world, and in the Central Preservation Library for Government Preservation of the Public Records Office. Additionally, the public may also access the scanned copies of gazette issued before World War II on the HKU Libraries website. The official website of the Gazette contains online records of the Gazette dating back to 2000.