Q V. COMMISSIONER OF REGISTRATION (and 1 other)

[2023] HKCFA 4 Court of Final Appeal 6 February 2023 • FACV8/2022; FACV9/2022 • 50 min read

19 cases cited (0 SG, 19 foreign)

Practice Areas

Basic Law Bill of Rights as well as under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance Registration of Persons Ordinance

Judges (5)

Cheung Coram Fok Coram Lam Coram Lord Sumption Coram Ribeiro Coram

Counsel (8)

Department of Justice Firm Haldanes Firm Bonnie Y K Cheng Counsel Respondent Earl Deng Counsel Applicant Hectar Pun Counsel Applicant Lord Pannick Counsel Applicant Monica Carss-Frisk Counsel Respondent Stewart Wong Counsel Respondent

Parties (1)

Commissioner of Registration Respondent

Summary

Q and Tse Henry Edward, two transgender persons, appealed regarding the requirement to undergo full sex reassignment surgery before being allowed to change the sex marker on their Hong Kong identity cards. The Court of Final Appeal considered whether this requirement was a disproportionate interference with their constitutional rights. The appeals were allowed, with the Court finding the surgical requirement unconstitutional.

Statutes Cited

Basic Law

Art 39

Bill of Rights as well as under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (Cap 480)

Registration of Persons Ordinance (Cap 177)

Cases Cited (19)

UK (3)

[2014] AC 700 [2022] 2 WLR 133 [2022] AC 223

HK (16)

(2007) 10 HKCFAR 335 (2011) 14 HKCFAR 754 (2012) 15 HKCFAR 409 (2013) 16 HKCFAR 112 (2016) 19 HKCFAR 372 (2017) 20 HKCFAR 353 (2019) 22 HKCFAR 59 (2020) 23 HKCFAR 15 [2007] 2 HKLRD 804 [2018] 4 HKLRD 38 [2019] 1 HKLRD 1244 [2019] HKCFA 53 [2019] HKCFI 295 [2022] 1 HKLRD 803 [2022] HKCA 172 [2022] HKCA 675

Judgment

Read the full judgment on the official Hong Kong Courts portal.

Read on HKLII

Source: HKLII ([2023] HKCFA 4)