How Bail Works in Hong Kong

The short version

• The court's default is to grant bail. Section 9D(1) of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) provides that a court "shall order an accused person to be admitted to bail", unless section 9G applies.
• Under section 9G(1), refusing bail requires "substantial grounds". That subsection permits a court not to admit a person to bail where there are substantial grounds for believing they would fail to surrender, would commit an offence while on bail, or would interfere with a witness or obstruct justice — those are the three it lists. But section 9G(3) to (9) set out further situations in which bail need not be granted, none of which requires a finding of substantial grounds.
• The conditions that may be imposed are listed. Section 9D(3)(b) sets out eight — surrender of travel documents, not leaving Hong Kong, reporting, a specified residence, exclusion from places, distance limits, no contact with specified persons, and a cash deposit.
• A refusal can be taken to a judge. Section 9J(1) allows a person refused bail by a District Judge or magistrate to apply to a judge to be admitted to bail.
• Failing to surrender is itself an offence. Section 9L(3): on summary conviction, a fine at level 6 and 6 months' imprisonment; on conviction on indictment, a fine of any amount and 12 months.
• Standing surety carries two distinct risks. Section 9F makes an agreement to indemnify a surety void and makes entering into one an offence; section 9M lets the court forfeit the surety's recognizance, or the money deposited with the court, to the Government when the person on bail fails to surrender.

How this article labels its sources

• [Statute] — a provision of an Ordinance.
• [Bill of Rights] — a provision of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, set out in section 8 of Cap. 383.

The Bill of Rights is itself qualified. Section 2(2) of Cap. 383 provides: "The Bill of Rights is subject to Part III." Part III is "Exceptions and Savings", sections 9 to 14. Two of those bear on Article 5, relied on below. Section 9 provides that "… and persons lawfully detained in penal establishments of whatever character are subject to such restrictions as may from time to time be authorized by law for the preservation of service and custodial discipline". Section 11 provides that "As regards persons not having the right to enter and remain in Hong Kong, this Ordinance does not affect any immigration legislation governing entry into, stay in and departure from Hong Kong, or the application of any such legislation" — which bears directly on the deportation-order situation in section 9G(7) below.

Separately, section 5 (public emergencies) is not in Part III — it sits in Part I ("Preliminary") — but it likewise limits the Bill of Rights. Its threshold is "In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed", and the non-derogable Articles listed in section 5(2)(c) do not include Article 5.

Statutory quotations in this English version are taken from the English authentic text of each Ordinance; the Traditional Chinese version quotes the Chinese authentic text. Neither is a translation of the other. The two authentic texts of Cap. 221 s. 9D(3)(a) do not use the same word, and both are set out.

The default position

[Bill of Rights] Article 5(3): "It shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the judgment." The same Article provides that a person arrested or detained on a criminal charge "shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release."

[Bill of Rights] Article 5(4): "Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that that court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful." Article 5(5): "Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation." The first is the right to have the lawfulness of detention decided by a court, which runs alongside a bail application and is not the same thing; the second is the right to compensation for unlawful arrest or detention.

[Statute] Section 9D(1) of Cap. 221 turns that into a duty on the court: "Subject to this section and section 9G, a court shall order an accused person to be admitted to bail, whether he has been committed for trial or not" — when he appears or is brought before a court in connection with the proceedings, when he applies to that court for bail, or when he applies to a judge under section 9J.

The word is "shall", not "may". Bail is the default and refusal is the exception, and within Part IA of Cap. 221 the scope of the exception is set by section 9G.

Offences endangering national security are subject to a separate bail regime, and this article does not state its test. Cap. 221 itself points to that regime in several places: section 80 defines the HK National Security Law as the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as applied under the Promulgation of National Law 2020 (L.N. 136 of 2020); section 81DB(2), on the Court of Appeal's power to admit a defendant to bail immediately after an acquittal, provides "To avoid doubt, subsection (1) is subject to Article 42 of the HK National Security Law." (section 81DC(3) does the same for its subsection (2)); and section 123(1AA)(a) and (1B)(ab) refer to the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (6 of 2024). Neither instrument is in this site's legislation corpus, so nothing is quoted from them and no test under that regime is stated here (see item 9 of "Matters this article does not address").

Police bail

An arrested person does not necessarily wait until court to be released. [Statute] Section 52 of the Police Force Ordinance (Cap. 232) provides for several dispositions at the police-station stage:

1. Recognizance to appear before a magistrate. Section 52(1) provides that once an arrested person is brought before "the officer in charge of any police station or a police officer authorized in that behalf by the Commissioner", unless "the offence appears to such officer to be of a serious nature or unless such officer reasonably considers that the person ought to be detained", the officer may "discharge the person upon his entering into a recognizance, with or without sureties, for a reasonable amount, to appear before a magistrate or to surrender for service of a warrant of arrest and detention or for discharge at the time and place named in the recognizance".

2. Recognizance where the enquiry is not complete. Section 52(3) covers a different situation — where "it appears to the officer in charge of the police station... that the inquiry into the case cannot be completed forthwith", he may discharge the person on a recognizance "to appear at such police station and at such time as is named in the recognizance". This is the statutory basis of what is commonly called release pending further enquiry. The section adds an exception where the person first receives written notice that "his attendance is not required".

3. What happens if the person does not appear. Section 52(2) supplies the consequence the other subsections leave out: "if such person does not appear or has not appeared when called upon at the time and place mentioned in the recognizance, the magistrate shall forthwith estreat the recognizance". There is a proviso — "if the person apprehended appears and makes application for a postponement of the hearing of the charge against him, the magistrate may enlarge the recognizance to such further time as he may think proper" — and once the matter has been heard and determined the recognizance is discharged without fee. Police bail, like court bail, has a sanction for non-appearance.

4. Cash deposit. Section 52(3A)(a) allows an officer to discharge any such person "if such person or a surety, or both such person and a surety, deposit with the officer such sum of money as the officer may specify having regard to all the circumstances, including the seriousness of the alleged offence, the circumstances of such person and the day on or the time at which such sum is to be deposited". Section 52(3A)(b) provides that a magistrate may order forfeiture of the deposit if the person does not appear or report as specified.

Court bail: the grounds for refusal

[Statute] Section 9G(1) is the central provision. Note that it says the court "need not admit" — not "shall refuse":

Three things are worth noticing:

• The standard is "substantial grounds for believing" — not suspicion, and not possibility.
• The parenthesis provides that the substantial-grounds inquiry applies whether or not an admission to bail would be subject to conditions under section 9D(2) — it does not require the court to consider first whether conditions would remove the risk before considering refusal.
• Those three risks are exactly the three that the bail conditions in section 9D(2) exist to guard against. The Ordinance matches the two lists to each other.

[Statute] What the court may take into account. Section 9G(2) lists eight matters: "(a) the nature and seriousness of the alleged offence and, in the event of conviction, the manner in which the accused person is likely to be dealt with; (b) the behaviour, demeanour and conduct of the accused person; (c) the background, associations, employment, occupation, home environment, community ties and financial position of the accused person; (d) the health, physical and mental condition and age of the accused person; (e) the history of any previous admissions to bail of the accused person; (f) the character, antecedents and previous convictions, if any, of the accused person; (g) the nature and weight of the evidence of the commission of the alleged offence by the accused person; (h) any other thing that appears to the court to be relevant."

[Statute] Other situations in which bail need not be granted. Section 9G sets out several more:

• Section 9G(3) — where the person should be detained for "his own protection" (if 18 or over), or for "his own protection, safety or welfare" (if under 18), or for "the purpose of further inquiry relating to the determining of the question of whether he should be admitted to bail".
• Section 9G(4) — where he is detained under a sentence of any court, or for or in connection with a charge of failing to surrender to custody under section 9L, or the court is satisfied that "he has previously failed to comply with any condition of bail imposed under section 9D", or that "any other court dealing with him in the same proceedings is or has been so satisfied".
• Sections 9G(5) to (9) — where he is the subject of a hospital order for the time being in force (defined in section 2 of Cap. 221 as "an order made under section 45, 54 or 54A of the Mental Health Ordinance (Cap. 136)"); the subject of an order under section 109B (suspended sentence) appearing under sections 109D or 109E; the subject of a deportation order under section 20 of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115); or appears under sections 5 or 6 of the Probation of Offenders Ordinance (Cap. 298) or sections 8 or 9 of the Community Service Orders Ordinance (Cap. 378).
• Section 9G(10) — murder. The subsection provides that an accused person charged with murder may be admitted to bail only by order of a judge. Section 9C defines "judge" as a Justice of Appeal, a judge of the Court of First Instance and a deputy judge of the Court of First Instance — so neither a magistrate nor a District Judge can make the order. The present text of the subsection was substituted by 6 of 2024 s. 141.

[Statute] Bail must be reconsidered at every hearing. Section 9G(11) provides that where bail has been refused, the court "shall, at each subsequent hearing while the accused remains in custody, consider the question of whether or not he ought to be admitted to bail". It then distinguishes: at the first hearing after the initial refusal, the court "shall hear any argument as to fact or law put to it in support of his admission to bail, whether or not it has previously heard that argument"; at the second or any subsequent hearing, it need not hear an argument it has already heard.

[Statute] A protection for the accused in bail proceedings: section 9N. Section 9N(b) provides: "the person being the subject of those proceedings shall not be examined or cross-examined by the court or by any other person as to the alleged offence with which he is charged and no inquiry shall be made of him as to that offence alleged". A bail hearing is not the occasion on which the accused is questioned about the charge itself. The rest of the section runs the other way: section 9N(a) provides that "the court may, subject to paragraph (b), make such inquiries of and concerning the person being the subject of those proceedings as the court considers desirable"; section 9N(c) allows "the informant or prosecutor or any person appearing on behalf of the prosecution may, in addition to any other relevant evidence, submit evidence, whether by affidavit or otherwise" to prove a previous conviction, a pending charge awaiting trial, or a previous failure to surrender, and to show the circumstances of the alleged offence, "particularly as they relate to the probability of conviction of the person being the subject of those proceedings"; sections 9N(d) and (e) allow the court to take into account matters agreed between the parties and any other material or representations it considers credible or trustworthy.

[Statute] Reporting a bail hearing is restricted: section 9P. Section 9P(1) provides: "Unless it appears to the court that the interests of public justice otherwise require, no person shall publish in Hong Kong a written report, or broadcast in Hong Kong a report, of any bail proceedings containing any matter other than that permitted under subsection (2)." Section 9P(2) lists the six things a report may contain: the name of the person, the offence charged, the identity of the court and the name of the magistrate, District Judge or judge, the names of counsel and solicitors, the result together with the details of any condition imposed, and the date and place of any adjournment. Those responsible for a report published or broadcast in contravention "shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 6 months." (section 9P(3)). Section 9P(4) provides: "Proceedings for an offence under this section shall not be instituted otherwise than by or with the consent of the Secretary for Justice."

Bail conditions

[Statute] What conditions are for. Section 9D(2) provides that a bail order "may be subject to such conditions as appear to the court to be necessary to secure" that the person will not fail to surrender to custody, commit an offence while on bail, or interfere with a witness or pervert or obstruct the course of justice.

[Statute] The conditions the court may impose. Section 9D(3) opens "Without affecting the generality of subsection (2), the court—", so what follows is not the universe of conditions. Section 9D(3)(b) lists eight, that the person admitted to bail:

• (i) "shall surrender to the court any passport or travel document";
• (ii) "shall not leave Hong Kong";
• (iii) "shall report to a police station or the offices of the Independent Commission Against Corruption as the court may specify";
• (iv) "shall reside at a specified address and be present therein between such times as the court may specify";
• (v) "shall not enter any place or premises as the court may specify";
• (vi) "shall not go within such distance of any place or premises as the court may specify";
• (vii) "shall not contact directly or indirectly such person as the court may specify";
• (viii) that he, or any person on his behalf, "or he and any such person shall, for the purpose only of securing the surrender to custody of the person admitted to bail as the court may appoint, deposit with the court such reasonable sum of money as the court may require".

[Statute] Sureties. Section 9D(3)(a) deals with recognizances, and the two authentic texts of this paragraph do not use the same word; this article sets out both (see "Matters this article does not address", item 1). The English authentic text reads:

The Chinese authentic text reads:

On whether the court may require a recognizance from the person admitted to bail themselves, the two texts differ: the English "may not" is a prohibition, while the Chinese 「無須」 is an absence of obligation. Both texts are equally authentic and this article does not decide which prevails. What both agree on is that a recognizance may be taken from a surety, and that its purpose may only be to secure the person's surrender to custody.

[Statute] Suitability of a surety. Section 9D(4) provides that in considering the suitability of a surety for a proposed recognizance the court "shall have regard to" the surety's financial resources and any other matter that appears to the court to be relevant. The same subsection then says where the recognizance may be entered into: "any recognizance of bail taken from a surety under that subsection may, if an order under subsection (1) so directs, be taken before any magistrate or before the Commissioner of Correctional Services, the Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services or a Senior Superintendent or Superintendent of Correctional Services." That is where a surety actually signs.

[Statute] Agreements to indemnify a surety are prohibited. Section 9F is the provision a family arranging bail is most likely to breach:

Section 9F(3) provides: "(3) An offence under subsection (2) is committed whether the agreement is entered into before or after the person to be indemnified becomes a surety and whether or not he becomes a surety and whether the agreement contemplates compensation in money or money’s worth." Section 9F(4) sets the same penalty as section 9L(3): on summary conviction a fine at level 6 and 6 months' imprisonment, and on conviction on indictment a fine of any amount and 12 months. So offering to make a surety whole if the money is lost is not a private arrangement — the agreement is void and making it is a criminal offence.

Review and further applications

[Statute] By the accused. Section 9J(1): where a District Judge or magistrate has refused bail, or admitted the person to bail subject to a condition, the person may apply to a judge to be admitted to bail, or to be admitted without that condition. Section 9J(2) provides that the judge may "confirm, revoke or vary the decision of the District Judge or magistrate, and may make such other order in the matter including an order as to costs as he thinks just".

[Statute] By the Secretary for Justice. Section 9H allows the Secretary for Justice to apply for a review of a decision of a District Judge or magistrate admitting a person to bail. Section 9H(9) makes that route final: "No appeal shall lie from the decision of a judge on an application under this section." Section 9I governs custody while that review is pending: where the Secretary for Justice states he wishes to apply for a review under section 9H, the court shall "upon application by the Secretary for Justice if the person so admitted is present, order that the person be detained in custody", and the Registrar must cause him to be brought before a judge "as soon as practicable, and in any event within 48 hours".

[Statute] The person under review is entitled to be heard. Section 9H(4) entitles the Secretary for Justice to put before the judge such relevant argument and matter as he thinks proper, whether or not it was before the District Judge or magistrate who made the decision, "and the person admitted to bail shall also be entitled to be heard".

[Statute] A review may proceed in the person's absence, and may end in arrest. Section 9H(5) opens "Notwithstanding subsection (4)" and provides that "if the person admitted to bail fails to appear a judge may hear and determine the application in the absence of the person if he is satisfied that the person has been served with the summons or has refused to accept service of the summons or that all reasonable attempts have been made to serve the summons"; section 9H(6) provides that where a judge has heard the application in the person's absence "he may rehear the application if he is satisfied that it is just to do so". Section 9H(8) supplies the operative consequence: "On the revocation or variation of a decision of the District Judge or magistrate under subsection (7), a judge may issue a warrant for the arrest of the person admitted to bail." A review can end not only in bail being revoked but in a warrant.

[Statute] Either side of the 48 hours. Section 9I(1) does not stop at detention — the order continues, "and be brought before a judge at such time and place as the Registrar may appoint"; section 9I(2) provides that where such an order is made "he shall immediately notify the Registrar", and the Registrar shall cause the person so detained to be brought before a judge as soon as practicable and in any event within 48 hours, and shall "inform the Secretary for Justice of the time and place at which that will be done" — the subsection does not state that the 48 hours starts from the moment the Registrar is notified.

[Statute] What the requirements being dispensed with actually are. The requirements of sections 9H(2) and (3), referred to below, are these: an application for review "shall be made by summons before a judge in chambers and supported by affidavit" (this being subject to section 9I(3)); and "The summons may be served on the person admitted to bail at any time before the time appointed therein for the hearing". Knowing what they are is what makes dispensing with them intelligible — the judge need not wait for the summons and affidavit to be in order before hearing the application.

What happens at the end of the 48 hours is section 9I(3) and (4): when the person is brought before him, "a judge may, if he thinks fit, dispense with the requirements of section 9H(2) and (3) and proceed to hear an application under section 9H(1)"; and "If the judge declines to dispense with the requirements of section 9H(2) and (3), he shall order the person so detained to be kept in custody for such time as he deems sufficient to enable section 9H(2) and (3) to be complied with, and may make such other order as he thinks just."

[Statute] A record must be kept, and the accused is entitled to an extract. Section 9Q provides: "A record of all bail proceedings shall be maintained in such manner and form as may be prescribed by rules and orders made for the purposes of this section under section 9 and shall be made available to an accused person and to counsel and solicitors to such extent and on such terms as may be prescribed." The rules made under it — the Criminal Procedure (Record of Bail Proceedings) Rules (Cap. 221 sub. leg. I) — provide in rule 2(1) that "a record of all bail proceedings shall be maintained and shall consist of a summary of all matters relevant to such proceedings including any application for admission to bail, the grounds of such application, the grounds of any objection to any admission to bail, the adjudication of the court and the reasons for such adjudication." Rule 2(3) provides: "An extract of the record of bail proceedings mentioned in subrule (1) in the form prescribed in the Schedule shall be made available to the accused person and to counsel and solicitors engaged in the proceedings." A person refused bail is therefore entitled to an extract stating the reasons for the adjudication.

That 48 hours applies only to this situation — custody while a bail decision is under review. It is not a general ceiling on detention after arrest; on that, see your rights if arrested .

Breach of bail

[Statute] Arrest without warrant. Section 9K(1) provides that a police officer may arrest and detain a person admitted to bail without warrant where the officer "has reasonable grounds for believing that any condition on or subject to which such person was admitted to bail has been or is likely to be broken"; or where any police officer "has been notified in writing by any surety from whom a recognizance of bail has been taken for that person that the surety believes that that person is likely to fail to surrender to custody as shall have been appointed by a court and for that reason the surety wishes to be relieved of his obligations as surety".

[Statute] 24 hours. Section 9K(2): a person so arrested "shall be brought within 24 hours after his arrest or as soon as practicable thereafter before a magistrate", except where the arrest occurs within the 24 hours immediately preceding an occasion on which he is required by his bail to surrender to custody at a court, in which case he is brought before that court.

[Statute] What the court may then do. Section 9K(3): if it appears to the court that a condition has been or is likely to be broken, it may order the person detained in custody, or admit him to bail subject to the same or such other conditions as it thinks fit — but if it does not so appear, the court must release him from custody and admit him to bail on the same conditions.

[Statute] Failing to surrender is an offence. Section 9L(1): a person admitted to bail "who, without reasonable cause, fails to surrender to custody as shall have been appointed by a court, commits an offence." Section 9L(2) adds that a person who had reasonable cause for missing the appointed time but then "fails to so surrender as soon after that time as is reasonably practicable" also commits an offence.

[Statute] Penalty. Section 9L(3): "liable on summary conviction to a fine at level 6 and to imprisonment for 6 months, and on conviction upon indictment to a fine of any amount and to imprisonment for 12 months."

[Statute] No jury. Section 9L(4) provides that in exercising its jurisdiction under the section a court "may deal with an accused person summarily without a jury", and may deal with the case without a charge having been transferred under Part IV of the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap. 227) or the case having been committed for trial under Part III of that Ordinance.

[Statute] The recognizance and the deposit can be forfeited. Section 9M(1):

Note the words "whether or not that person has been convicted of an offence under section 9L(1)" — forfeiture does not wait for a conviction. Section 9M(2) adds that payment of any sum due as security for such a recognizance may be enforced as if it were a security to which section 64 of the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap. 227) applies.

[Statute] How a breach is proved. Section 9O provides that "a certificate purporting to be certified by a clerk of the court which has admitted a person to bail and stating" — that the person was admitted to bail, the day and time undertaken for surrender, the conditions, and that notice of them was given — "shall be evidence of the facts so stated and shall be received in evidence without further proof."

ICAC cases: a separate regime

ICAC cases are not a variation on the court bail scheme. The ICAC Ordinance (Cap. 204) sets up its own procedure at the pre-court stage.

[Statute] Where the arrested person is taken. Section 10A(1) provides that a person arrested under section 10 "may be taken forthwith to a police station and there dealt with in accordance with the Police Force Ordinance (Cap. 232)", or "may be taken to the offices of the Commission".

[Statute] Disposal at Commission offices. Section 10A(2): a person taken to the Commission's offices may be "detained there if an officer of the rank of Senior Commission Against Corruption Officer or above considers it necessary for the purpose of further inquiries"; or released from custody "on his depositing such reasonable sum of money as an officer of the rank of Senior Commission Against Corruption Officer or above may require", on entering into such recognizance with such sureties as such an officer may require, or on both.

[Statute] Here there is a real 48-hour rule. Section 10A(6): "A person who is detained at the offices of the Commission under subsection (2)(a) shall be brought before a magistrate as soon as practicable and in any event within 48 hours after his arrest unless he is sooner released, whether under subsection (2)(b) or otherwise."

Note the contrast with police detention. Section 52(1) of the Police Force Ordinance sets no 48-hour ceiling on producing an arrested person before a magistrate — its standard is "as soon as practicable". The section is not silent about time altogether: it provides that where a deportation arrest-and-detention warrant is applied for within 48 hours of apprehension, the person "may be detained for a period not exceeding 72 hours from the time of such apprehension" — the clock runs from apprehension, not from the warrant application. But that is a 72-hour cap in the deportation case, not a general 48-hour ceiling (see your rights if arrested ). Detention by the Commission at its own offices does carry the 48-hour limit in section 10A(6). The two are different, and this article does not present them as the same.

[Statute] A detainee may be taken elsewhere. Section 10A(7)(a) provides that "A person who is detained at the offices of the Commission under subsection (2)(a) may be taken in the custody of an officer to and from any other place if an officer of the rank of Senior Commission Against Corruption Officer or above considers it necessary or desirable to do so." Section 10A(7)(b) provides: "Any person who is being taken to and from any such place in the custody of an officer under paragraph (a) shall be deemed to be in lawful custody." So "detained at the offices of the Commission" does not mean the whole period is spent inside those offices.

[Statute] The treatment of detainees is prescribed by subsidiary legislation. Section 10A(8) provides that "The Chief Executive may by order make such provision as he considers necessary with respect to the treatment of persons detained at the offices of the Commission", whether under subsection (2)(a) or pursuant to a magistrate's order. What was made under it is the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Treatment of Detained Persons) Order (Cap. 204 sub. leg. A) — subsidiary legislation, not an administrative direction. Paragraph 3(a) obliges the officer who authorized the detention to, "at the request of the detainee, cause a close relative of the detainee, or any other person named by the detainee for that purpose, to be notified of his whereabouts"; paragraph 4(1) provides that "A detainee shall be afforded reasonable opportunity to communicate with a legal adviser and to consult with him in the presence, but out of the hearing, of an officer, unless such communication or consultation would cause unreasonable hindrance or delay to the investigation of the suspected offence or the administration of justice"; paragraph 12(3) provides that "If the detainee is admitted to a hospital, he shall at all times be guarded by an officer until lawfully released on bail or otherwise."; and paragraph 17 requires a notice in English and Chinese to be displayed in every detention room and at conspicuous places in the Commission's offices, item 4 of which reads "You may ask to be released on bail."

[Statute] Reporting. Section 10A(3) applies only to "A person who has deposited a sum of money for the purposes of subsection (2) and has thereupon been released from custody": that person must report to the offices of the Commission at the time specified by a senior officer and at such further times as that officer specifies, or appear before a magistrate at the time and place specified. Release on a recognizance rather than a money deposit is dealt with by section 10A(4) instead — "A recognizance entered into for the purposes of subsection (2) shall be conditioned" — for attendance at the Commission's offices, or appearance before a magistrate, on the same pattern. Section 10A(3A) provides that where the person attends at a further appointed time and informs a senior officer that he will refuse to report at any further time, the sum deposited is to be returned and he ceases to be bound by any recognizance as to reporting.

[Statute] Failure to report. Section 10A(5) provides that where a person fails to attend at the Commission's offices or to appear before a magistrate as required, "such sum of money may be forfeited or such recognizance estreated by a magistrate on application by the Commissioner".

[Statute] Breach of bail. Section 10AA(1) gives an authorised Commission officer a power of arrest without warrant on conditions closely parallel to section 9K(1), and section 10AA(2) imposes the same 24-hour requirement. Section 10AA(3) is close to section 9K(3) but not the same: if it appears to the court that a condition of the release or of the bail has been or is likely to be broken, the court may "remand that person in custody" or admit that person to bail on the same or such other conditions as it thinks fit, "but if it does not so appear to that court the court shall admit that person to bail on the same conditions" — unlike section 9K(3), it carries no limb releasing the person from custody. Section 10AA(4) provides that "Nothing in this section shall derogate from or affect the powers of arrest contained in section 9K of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221)".

At the court stage, ICAC cases are governed by sections 9D and 9G of Cap. 221 like any other. The reporting condition in section 9D(3)(b)(iii) expressly names both a police station and the offices of the Commission.

Surrender of a travel document: a separate restriction on leaving

This is not bail, and it can apply to a person who has not been charged. Its source is the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201), not the ICAC Ordinance.

[Statute] Section 17A(1) provides that a magistrate "may, on the application ex parte of the Commissioner, by written notice require a person who is the subject of an investigation in respect of an offence reasonably suspected to have been committed by him under this Ordinance to surrender to the Commissioner any travel document in his possession." Section 17A(3) requires the person served to "comply with such notice forthwith". Section 17A(7) defines "travel document", for that section and section 17B, as "a passport or other document establishing the identity or nationality of a holder".

[Statute] The period during which he may not leave. Section 17A(3A) opens "Subject to subsection (6)" — subsection (6) being the power of extension below — and provides that, unless an application for return of the document under section 17B(1) or for permission to leave Hong Kong under section 17BA(1) is granted, the person to whom the notice is addressed "shall not leave Hong Kong, whether or not the notice has been served on him under subsection (2), before the expiry of a period of 6 months from the date of the notice". Section 17A(5A) opens with the same words and, unless an application for return under section 17B(1) is granted, allows the surrendered document to be retained during that 6-month period.

Both escape routes are gated. Section 17B(1) is open only to "A person who has surrendered a travel document under section 17A", and section 17BA(1) only to "a person on whom a notice under section 17A(1) is served". A person to whom a notice is addressed but who has not been served, and who holds no travel document to surrender, is caught by the departure ban with neither route available.

[Statute] Six months is not the maximum. Section 17A(6) provides that the 6-month period "may be extended for a further period of 3 months" where a magistrate, on the Commissioner's application, is satisfied that the investigation "could not reasonably have been completed before the date of such application" and authorises the extension — but the magistrate may not hear such an application until the Commissioner has given the person reasonable notice of it.

[Statute] A return of the document, or permission to leave, does not spend the period. Section 17B(7) provides that where a travel document is returned subject to a condition under section 17B(5)(a) or (6)(a) requiring it to be surrendered again, then after the time specified "the provisions of section 17A(3A) shall continue to apply in respect of the applicant and the provisions of section 17A(5A) shall continue to apply in respect of the travel document surrendered by the applicant pursuant to the condition as if no return had been made to the applicant under this section." Section 17BA(7) does the same where permission to leave Hong Kong is granted subject to a condition: "the provisions of section 17A(3A) shall continue to apply in respect of the person as if the person had not been permitted to leave Hong Kong under this section." So a grant under section 17B(1) or 17BA(1) is an exception to the section 17A(3A) departure ban; once the time specified in the condition has passed, these two subsections withdraw that exception and the ban applies again for the remainder of the 6 months from the date of the notice — or 9 months, where a magistrate has authorised an extension under section 17A(6). What they withdraw is the exemption the grant created; they do not extend the section 17A(3A) period, whose start and end remain fixed by the date of the notice and by any section 17A(6) extension.

[Statute] Consequences of not complying. Sections 17A(4) and (5) provide that a person served who fails to comply forthwith may be arrested and taken before a magistrate; and unless he then complies, or satisfies the magistrate that he does not possess a travel document, the magistrate shall by warrant commit him to prison until the expiry of 28 days from the date of his committal to prison, or until he complies and the magistrate orders his release, whichever occurs first.

[Statute] The notice cannot be withdrawn. Section 17A(6B) provides: "A notice under subsection (1) which has been served in accordance with subsection (2) and complied with shall not thereafter be revoked or withdrawn."

[Statute] Applying for return. Section 17B(1) allows a person who has surrendered a travel document to apply in writing at any time, to the Commissioner or a magistrate or both, for its return, and every such application shall contain a statement of the grounds on which it is made. Section 17B(2) sets a prior gate: "A magistrate shall not consider an application made under subsection (1) unless he is satisfied that reasonable notice in writing of it has been given to the Commissioner". Section 17B(3) sets the threshold: the application may be granted only where the Commissioner or magistrate is satisfied that, "having regard to all the circumstances, including the interests of the investigation referred to in section 17A(1), a refusal to grant the application would cause unreasonable hardship to the applicant." Sections 17B(4) and (6) allow a deposit, a recognizance with sureties, or conditions requiring the applicant to surrender the document again at a specified time and to report at specified times and places. Section 17B(9) governs how any of that is fixed: "Anything to be specified in respect of an applicant under this section shall be specified by notice in writing served personally on the applicant".

[Statute] Heard in chambers — but appealable. Sections 17A(6A), 17B(8)(a) and 17BA(8)(a) all provide that proceedings before a magistrate under those sections "shall be conducted in chambers". Section 17B(8)(b) then deems those proceedings to be proceedings a magistrate has power to determine summarily within the meaning of sections 105 and 113(3) of the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap. 227), and provides that "Part VII of that Ordinance (which relates to appeals) shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to appeals against an order of a magistrate under this section." Section 17BA(8)(b) has the same effect: its English authentic text is word-for-word identical, while the two Chinese authentic texts differ in wording. It is not quoted here. A magistrate's refusal to return a travel document, or to permit departure, is not the end of the road.

As for the Securities and Futures Commission, the Ordinance searched for this purpose is the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571), which contains no provision on bail, recognizances or travel documents and gives the SFC no bail power of its own. See ICAC and SFC investigations .