On 20 January 2026, the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance (Cap. 650) (Ordinance) came into effect to tackle Hong Kong’s chronic under-reporting of child abuse.
The Ordinance imposes a statutory duty on 25 categories of specified professionals in social welfare, education, and healthcare – including teachers and medical practitioners (Specified Professionals) – to report suspicions of serious harm to children under 18 (a Child) as soon as practicable after the material time*, while offering protection to professionals.
Reporting Duty
Under the Ordinance, Specified Professionals are under a legal duty to report to the Director of Social Welfare or Commissioner of Police (Authorities) when, in the course of their professional work, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a Child is suffering or is at real risk of suffering serious harm; failure without reasonable excuse is an offence punishable by up to 3 months’ imprisonment and/or a fine at level 5, currently HK$50,000.
Serious harm is defined in Schedule 2 of the Ordinance to include:
- Harm endangering a child’s life or physical health that requires urgent medical treatment;
- Harm endangering psychological health or development;
- Harm caused by coercing or enticing a Child to take part in rape, incest, buggery, sexual intercourse or any act of gross indecency;
- Neglect by a responsible person endangering the Child’s life or health.
*material time means the time at which the ground mentioned comes to the notice of the Specified Professional.
Exemptions and Defences
Specified Professionals are exempt from the duty to report in the following situations:
- The Specified Professional honestly and reasonably believes the serious harm was caused solely by a non-neglectful accident, solely by the Child, or solely by another child (other than through a sexual act); or
- The Specified Professional had received prior notice by the Authorities of the same or substantially the same harm or risk; or
- The Specified Professional had already previously made a report; or honestly and reasonably believes that a report had already been made by another Specified Professional.
If prosecuted for non-report, it is a defence to establish a reasonable excuse for not making the relevant report. If prosecuted for not making the report as soon as practicable, i.e. delayed reporting, it is a defence if the Specified Professional honestly and reasonably believed the delay was in the Child’s best interests and they took reasonably necessary steps during the delay to protect the Child.
Support and Protection of Specified Professionals
The Director of Social Welfare may issue non-binding practical guidelines on reporting duties freely available to the public but which do not create civil or criminal liability for non-compliance.
To further encourage reporting, the Ordinance makes it an offence to disclose the identity of a Specified Professional who has made a report (or information from which it could be deduced), unless specific exceptions apply.
A Specified Professional who makes a report is also protected from civil or criminal liability, and will not be treated as having breached any applicable professional code or ethics.
For further information, please contact:
Sherlynn Chan, Partner, Deacons
sherlynn.chan@deacons.com
