The Government today announced the mechanism for legal practitioners providing necessary professional services in relation to important and large-scale commercial transactions to apply for exemption from the compulsory quarantine arrangement.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has started processing applications. Legal practitioners should submit the completed application form with all required supporting documents to the DoJ by email.

Under the Compulsory Quarantine of Certain Persons Arriving at Hong Kong Regulation, the Chief Secretary may designate any person or category of people for exemption from the quarantine arrangement if their travelling is necessary for purposes relating to the provision of professional services in the interest of Hong Kong's economic development.

The Chief Secretary has recently exempted qualified legal practitioners who travel from the Mainland, Macau or Taiwan to Hong Kong to provide legal services that require on-site physical presence in relation to important and large-scale commercial transactions from compulsory quarantine.

Legal practitioners who return to Hong Kong from the Mainland, Macau or Taiwan after provision of legal services that require on-site physical presence in relation to such transactions are also exempted.

After arriving in Hong Kong, the exempted person will be subject to medical surveillance arranged by the Department of Health for 14 days.

Currently, travellers to the Mainland and Macau would still be subject to the 14-day compulsory quarantine requirement imposed by authorities in those places.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is discussing with Mainland and Macau authorities about mutual recognition of COVID-19 testing results conducted by recognised medical laboratories to exempt the quarantine requirement for Hong Kong travellers to those places.

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