Barnabas Fung

In this Chinese name, the family name is Fung.

Barnabas Fung Wah, GBS (Chinese: 馮驊; born 1960) is a Hong Kong judge. He has served as a High Court Judge since 2006.

The Honourable Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah GBS
馮驊
Fung in 2019
Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission
In office 17 August 2009 – 16 August 2022
Preceded by	Pang Kin-kee
Succeeded by	David Lok
Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court
Incumbent
Assumed office 2006
Chief District Judge
In office 2001–2006
Preceded by	Richard Hawkes
Succeeded by	Patrick Li
District Judge
In office 1998–2001
Permanent Magistrate
In office 1993–1998
Personal details
Born	1960 (age 64–65) Hong Kong
Alma mater	University of New South Wales University of Hong Kong

Barnabas Fung
Traditional Chinese	馮驊
Simplified Chinese	冯骅
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Féng Huá Yue: Cantonese Jyutping fung4 waa4

Since 2016, Fung has served as a Panel Judge handling interception and surveillance authorisation requests from law enforcement agencies.^[1][2]

He was Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission from 2009 to 2022.

He previously served as Chairman and Director of the Hong Kong Children's Choir.^[3]

Education and legal career

Fung was educated at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong and Barker College, Australia.^[4] He graduated from the University of New South Wales with a BComm and LLB in 1984 and 1985 respectively. He obtained his PCLL from the University of Hong Kong in 1986.^[5]

Fung was called to the New South Wales Bar and Hong Kong Bar in 1985 and 1986 respectively. He was a barrister in private practice in Hong Kong from 1987 to 1993.^[5]

Judicial career

In 1993, Fung joined the bench as a Permanent Magistrate. He became a District Judge in 1998 and was subsequently appointed as Chief District Judge in 2001.^[5][6]

Fung sat as a Deputy High Court Judge intermittently from December 2001 to July 2006.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}

In November 2006, Fung was appointed as a Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court.^[5] He was the Judge in charge of the Personal Injury List from 2008 to 2010.

Fung acted as Returning Officer for the 2007 Hong Kong Chief Executive election.^[13]

In 2009, Fung was appointed as Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission.^[14] He was re-appointed in 2013 and 2017 (for a term of 5 years until 2022).^[15][16] On 16 August 2022, it was announced that Fung's chairmanship of the EAC expired that day and the Government was actively identifying his successor, whose appointment would be announced in due course.^[17]

Fung has sat in the Court of Appeal in a number of civil and criminal appeal cases.^[18]

Awards

• 2017 Gold Bauhinia Star (in recognition of his distinguished service as the Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission)^[19][20]