The Hong Kong national security law, officially the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is legislation on Hong Kong security. It is required under Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, which came into force in 1997; the law was not created and enacted until 2020. Article 23 stipulates that the law should have been enacted by Hong Kong alone without any other input; in theory, it is designed to prevent interference in Hong Kong territorial affairs.