The 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Professional Examination (GBA Examination) was held today, the Department of Justice announced.
 
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said that as more Hong Kong legal practitioners pass the examination and obtain practice qualifications to provide legal services in the nine Mainland municipalities in the bay area, this can enable Hong Kong legal practitioners with dual qualifications to integrate into the national development and utilise their experience in handling cross-jurisdictional legal matters, contributing to the building of a pool of foreign-related legal talent in the GBA for the country.
 
This year's GBA Examination is the first examination held after the period of the pilot scheme for Hong Kong and Macau legal practitioners to practise in the nine Mainland municipalities in the bay area was extended, and the practice experience threshold for enrolling in the GBA Examination was lowered, in September last year.
 
In August 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) authorised the State Council to conduct a pilot scheme for eligible Hong Kong and Macau legal practitioners to provide legal services in the nine Mainland municipalities on certain civil and commercial matters to which Mainland laws apply, after passing the GBA Examination and having obtained the Lawyer's License (GBA).
 
The pilot scheme was for a period of three years and would have originally expired on October 4 last year. The NPCSC passed a decision in September last year to extend the period of the pilot scheme until October 4, 2026.
 
Additionally, the General Office of the State Council published revised pilot measures in September last year, lowering the practice experience threshold for Hong Kong and Macau legal practitioners to enrol in the examination from five years to three years.