Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Failure to declare to customs

Legal area

Court

16 May 2022

HKSAR v. LEE YAU SING

Citation

[2022] HKCFI 1117
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA326/2021

On the uncontested expert evidence that heatsticks contain tobacco and emit nicotine when heated and are capable of being smoked by themselves, a heatstick falls within the statutory definition of "cigarette" in section 65 of Cap.109; therefore heatsticks are dutiable commodities under Cap.109 and the appellant's convictions were safe. The 2019 Bill and related materials did not alter this conclusion or justify excluding heatsticks from Cap.109 prior to its enactment.
17 Nov 2020

香港特別行政區訴李可轅

Citation

[2020] HKCFI 2843
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA424/2019

The magistrate's chosen starting point of five months (raised to six months for recent release) was manifestly excessive for the facts of this case; the appropriate starting point is 15 weeks with a 3-week uplift for re-offending shortly after release (total 18 weeks), reduced by one-third for an immediate guilty plea to 12 weeks' imprisonment; the sentence on the second count should remain unchanged (absolute discharge).
16 Nov 2018

香港特別行政區訴陳國榮

Citation

[2018] HKCFI 2521
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA327/2018

Appellate court found the trial judge's adopted pre-discount starting point of 24 weeks excessive given case specifics; set an appropriate baseline of 16 weeks, increased by 4 weeks for aggravating factors (recidivism and cross-border conduct) to 20 weeks, and after upholding a 25% plea discount reduced the custodial sentence to 15 weeks; fine of HK$2,000 on count 2 was upheld.
14 Sept 2016

HKSAR v. SHALIM

Citation

HKSAR v. SHALIM
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA355/2016

The magistrate was correct that an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate given 40,981 cigarettes and the international element, but it was wrong in principle to impose a fine in lieu of imprisonment where a custodial sentence is appropriate; the appropriate starting point was six months' imprisonment reduced by one-third for the guilty plea resulting in four months' imprisonment, and the fine of HK$82,000 with seven months' default was set aside and replaced with four months' imprisonment.

Hong Kong Case Law

HKSAR v. LEE YAU SING

香港特別行政區 訴 李可轅

香港特別行政區 訴 陳國榮

HKSAR v. SHALIM

香港特別行政區訴李可轅

香港特別行政區訴陳國榮