17 May 2004
HKSAR v. GUO XIN ZHI AND ANOTHER
- Citation
- HKSAR v. GUO XIN ZHI AND ANOTHER
- Court
- Court of First Instance
- Case number
- HCMA117/2004
Section 24A of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance does not create a presumption of fact; it merely permits evidence that goods were imported from a place to be treated as prima facie evidence that they were manufactured there. A magistrate may not impose on defendants a statutory burden to rebut that evidence on the balance of probabilities; the prosecution retains the burden to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The magistrate's possible misdirection on this point was material and required quashing of the convictions.