The Apology Ordinance (Cap. 631)
The Apology Ordinance (Cap. 631) was enacted in July 2017 and came into operation on 1 December 2017.
The objective of the Apology Ordinance is to promote and encourage the making of apologies with a view to preventing the escalation of disputes and facilitating their amicable resolution.
For the purposes of the Apology Ordinance, an apology made by a person in connection with a matter means an expression of the person’s regret, sympathy or benevolence in connection with the matter, and includes an expression that the person is sorry about the matter. An apology may be oral, written or by conduct and includes any part of the expression that is an express or implied admission of that person’s fault or liability in connection with the matter or a statement of fact in connection with the matter (section 4).
The Apology Ordinance also provides that in most civil proceedings an apology does not constitute an express or implied admission of fault or liability and must not be taken into account in determining fault, liability or any other issue to the prejudice of the apology maker (section 7). Furthermore, an apology is generally not admissible as evidence for determining fault, liability or any other issue to the prejudice of the apology maker (section 8).