Towards a Unified Commercial Legal System in China’s Greater Bay Area?

Abstract China’s mainland and its two special administrative regions (SARs)—namely, Hong Kong and Macao—practise their own legal systems separately, which harbours legal conflicts associated with inter-regional commercial transactions in the context of closer economic ties between the three jurisdictions. While the conventional ‘conflict-of-law’ rules plus judicial assistance arrangement’ approach may help, it leaves too much to be desired, as having uniform substantive law rules in place is a solution deserving consideration. Given its inherent merits and the successful experience of the model law approach in the USA, the formulation of a uniform commercial law via a model law remains an open option. Such a need coincides with the launch of the Greater Bay Area and the Unified National Market strategies, which are aiming at further institutional integration among the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao. Where the central government has seemingly succeeded in asserting its overall control over the SARs, the unfolding of the integration schemes is expected to maintain its momentum. Nevertheless, a successful model law approach requires careful planning beyond political consideration. With the rule of law as Hong Kong’s advantage, a uniform commercial law modelling the appropriate Hong Kong law is probably the most desirable choice.