e. Duty of an expert

e. Duty of an expert

There are abundance of authorities emphasising the independence of the expert, regardless of whether the expert was called by the prosecution or the defence.

Paragraph 20 of the Prosecution Code published by the Department of Justice expressly provides that “An expert witness has an overriding duty to assist the court and should provide it with independent evidence in the form of objective unbiased opinion on matters within his or her expertise”.

There have been challenges on grounds of bias or conflict of interests regarding experts called by the prosecution. For example, it is not uncommon that in cases involving breach of occupational safety standards prosecuted by the Labour Department, an officer of the Labour Department would be called to be an expert on occupational safety. The Court of Final Appeal has held that bias or conflict of interests are generally a matter of weight rather than admissibility. Given the other conditions are satisfied, the Court is likely to admit such person as an expert, but the opposing party can make submission on why the Court should not place weight on his or her opinion.