Briefing

Hong Kong to establish International Commercial Court

On 28 May 2026, the Hong Kong Judiciary announced its decision to establish the ‘Hong Kong International Commercial Court’, a new division of the High Court which will hear international cross-border commercial disputes.

Background

The Hong Kong SAR see a high volume of complex, cross-border, commercial law disputes – whether by way of litigation or arbitration. Much of this is due to its status as a thriving international finance centre, as well as its prime location as a gateway to Mainland China and the rest of APAC.

Hong Kong is also attractive to parties because of its sophisticated common law legal system and special status under the “one country, two systems” principle and arrangements that Hong Kong and Mainland China have entered into which, for example, facilitate reciprocal enforcement of court orders, service of court documents and interim relief.¹

A unique feature of Hong Kong’s legal system is its common law heritage, a feature which remains to this day, making the Hong Kong Court the only common law system in Greater China.

Many common law jurisdictions have a specialist court which hears commercial cases, for example the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Dubai, England & Wales and Singapore, plus various States in Australia (e.g. the Supreme Court of Victoria). Given Hong Kong’s commercial pedigree and market leading status as a centre of commercial international arbitration and mediation, the absence of a specialist commercial court was therefore notable.

The Hong Kong Judiciary’s announcement

On 28 May 2026, the Hong Kong Judiciary announced² that a new division of the High Court would be established this year to hear “complex, high-value international and cross-border commercial disputes“. This division will be known as the ‘Hong Kong International Commercial Court’ (HKICC).

The HKICC will be established under existing legislation, so legislative amendments will not be required. As such, the Judiciary will be able to move swiftly and announced that preparatory work is already underway.

The Hong Kong Government supports the establishment of the HKICC, referring in an announcement of the same date to Hong Kong’s standing as an international finance centre and aims set out in Mainland China’s National 15th Five-Year Plan.³

HKICC judges

The Hong Kong Judiciary intends to recruit “local judges with substantial experience in commercial law” and “[e]minent senior judges or practitioners from other common law jurisdictions” to preside over the HKICC.

This approach will ensure that the judges who preside over the HKICC will be familiar with issues which frequently arise in cross border disputes, such as competing claims in different jurisdictions, anti-suit injunctions and evidence on foreign law. The HKICC will therefore be well positioned to efficiently and effectively dispose of disputes concerning complex commercial law issues.

HKICC cases

The Judiciary intend to publish a Practice Direction confirming the precise scope of the HKICC’s remit. In other jurisdictions, the cases heard by the commercial court is dictated by the subject matter of the dispute (e.g. contract disputes, corporate litigation, insolvency law) and the value of the claim. For example, a claim heard by the BVI Commercial Court must be worth US$500,000 or more⁴ and the English Commercial Court will not hear claims of less than £7,000,000.⁵

HKICC procedure

The Practice Direction will also set out the procedure to be followed in HKICC cases. The Judiciary announced that HKICC procedure will include:

“…measures to streamline the litigation process, provide a more flexible regime for the handling of appeals, and ensure the timely disposal of cases and appeals, with reference to the best practices of other international commercial courts“.

It is therefore likely that the HK Judiciary will incorporate aspects of commercial court practice seen in other common law jurisdictions and tailor HKICC procedure to suit the commercial cases which are frequently heard in Hong Kong.

Like many other specialist commercial courts, the HKICC will make “extensive use” of technology, including:

remote hearings;
electronic filing;
electronic bundles; and
voice-to-text transcription.

This is in line with the Hong Kong Judiciary’s wider drive to adopt technology. In 2022, the Hong Kong Judiciary introduced its e-filing platform, the iCMS. The iCMS was rolled out gradually across certain divisions of the Hong Kong Court and its use will become mandatory during the course of 2026.

Consultation on the establishment of the HKICC

The Judiciary announced that “stakeholders, in particular the legal profession, will be consulted” on the establishment of the HKICC. HFW, as a global law firm specialising in litigation, is well placed to comment on international court practice and will be monitoring developments closely.

Commentary

With its busy Court, world-renowned Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and the newly established International Organization for Mediation⁶, Hong Kong is highly regarded in international disputes circles.

However, unlike other international disputes hubs, Hong Kong lacked a dedicated commercial court and, while the quality of the Hong Kong judiciary is high, with certain types of commercial disputes allocated to certain judges (insolvency restructuring and arbitration are prime examples), this is not guaranteed. The establishment of the HKICC, with specialist judges and tailored rules of court, is therefore welcome news to litigants and lawyers alike.

The HKICC is therefore likely to further strengthen Hong Kong’s standing as an international dispute resolution hub. It is also to be hoped that it will increase the volume of international commercial cases litigated in Hong Kong, with parties being encouraged to choose the Hong Kong Courts to hear their disputes, as well as arbitrating in Hong Kong. Much will depend on the content of the HKICC Practice Direction and the market’s reaction – in particular whether the parties to commercial contracts agree to litigate their disputes before the HKICC instead of, say, arbitration in Hong Kong, or another forum entirely (e.g. the commercial courts in BVI, London or Singapore or arbitration elsewhere).

Contact us

HFW’s global team of expert litigators regularly handle commercial disputes in Hong Kong and elsewhere. For more information on our capabilities, please see here.

If you wish to discuss this article, or have other questions relating to commercial litigation, please contact the authors of this article or your usual HFW contact(s).

Footnotes