Official Languages Ordinance

The Official Languages Ordinance is an ordinance of Hong Kong enacted for the purpose of specifying the status and use of official languages of the territory. Both Chinese and English are declared official languages with equal status in the ordinance, and are to be used in communication between the government and members of the public.^[2] It dictates that all ordinances would be enacted and published in both languages,^[3] and allows judicial officers the choice of using either language in court proceedings.^[4]

Official Languages Ordinance
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Long title An Ordinance to provide for the official languages of Hong Kong, and for their status and use.
Citation	Cap. 5
Enacted by	Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Commenced	15 February 1974
Legislative history
Introduced by	Secretary for Home Affairs Denis Campbell Bray
Introduced	11 January 1974
First reading	30 January 1974
Second reading	13 February 1974
Third reading	13 February 1974
Amended by
1975, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2011, 2017[1]
Status: Current legislation

History

While no law existed prior to 1974 to designate official languages in Hong Kong, by practice, English was the sole language used in all branches of the British colonial government. Under public pressure, the Official Languages Ordinance was enacted in 1974 to declare that both English and Chinese may be used in communication between the government and the public. Despite the usage of different varieties of Chinese when speaking, the government chose not to specify any variety, instead choosing to use the term "Chinese" in order to allow ambiguity as to what variety or varieties of Chinese are to be accepted. Since most of the local population spoke Cantonese, it became the most frequently used variety to represent "Chinese" in official oral communication.^[5] In writing, however, "Chinese" nearly always refers to Written Vernacular Chinese.

Following the introduction of the ordinance, application was uneven. Ordinances continued to be published in English only until the 1980s and Chinese could not be used procedurally in the courts until an amendment made in 1995.^[6] In 2020, there was a marked departure from the ordinance when the Hong Kong National Security Law was passed. It was officially published in the Hong Kong Government Gazette solely in Chinese, with the Xinhua News Agency later confirming that the Chinese version of the National Security Law would prevail over the unofficial English translation of it in interpretation.^[7]