While this article was published, the Security Bureau of the Hong Kong Government announced that the Protection of Critical Infrastructure (Computer System) Bill will be gazetted on Friday, 6 December 2024, and will be introduced into the Legislative Council for First Reading and Second Reading on 11 December 2024. We will provide an update on further developments.

In its “Make Work Pay” manifesto, the Labour government pledged to bring in the “right to switch off” for workers. The government is reportedly considering a Code of Practice on such right, which may operate in a similar way to the Codes of Practice on disciplinary and grievance matters, and fire and rehire, with the potential for uplifts in compensation for specified types of claims where there has been non-compliance. Full details of the proposals are awaited but employers may wish to examine their hybrid and remote working arrangements now in order to ensure that they can react swiftly to future developments.