Legislative Council

LC Paper No. LS231/98-99

Object of the Bill

To adapt certain Ordinances and their subsidiary legislation to bring them into conformity with the Basic Law and with the status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

LegCo Brief Reference

2. G6/66/9C (98) issued by the Financial Services Bureau.

Date of First Reading

3. 14 July 1999.

Comments

4. A list of the Ordinances affected by the Bill is at Annex C. The Ordinances relate mainly to financial affairs. A summary of the technical amendments is set out in Annex A.

5. Apart from the provisions mentioned in Annex B, the Bill does not seek to introduce any change in policy and only effects essentially technical drafting changes to individual Ordinances.

6. If enacted, the Bill will take retrospective effect from 1 July 1997 to ensure that there is consistency in the interpretation of all laws on and after 1 July 1997. The retrospective effect will not apply to provisions involving criminal offences or penalties.

Public Consultation

7. There has not been any public consultation on the Bill.

Consultation with LegCo Panel

8. No consultation with any LegCo Panel on the details of the Bill has been carried out.

Conclusion

9. The legal and drafting aspects of the Bill are in order. Subject to Members' views, the Bill is ready for resumption of the Second Reading debate.


Prepared by


KAU Kin-wah
Assistant Legal Adviser
Legislative Council Secretariat
9 September 1999


Encl

Annex A

Annex B

Ordinance	Section	Original Provision	Provision added
Commodities Trading Ordinance (Cap. 250)	45(2)	The records referred to in subsection (1) shall be kept - (a) in writing in the English language; or (b) in such a manner as to enable them to be reading accessible and readily converted into written form in the English language.	The records referred to in subsection (1) shall be kept - (a) in writing in the Chinese or English language; or (b) in such a manner as to enable them to be readily accessible and readily converted into written form in the Chinese or English language
Securities Ordinance (Cap. 333)	83(2)	The records referred to in subsection (1) shall be kept - (a) in writing in the English language; or (b) in such a manner as to enable them to be reading accessible and readily converted into written form in the English language.	The records referred to in subsection (1) shall be kept - (a) in writing in the Chinese or English language; or (b) in such a manner as to enable them to be readily accessible and readily converted into written form in the Chinese or English language.

Annex C

1. Securities and Futures Commission Ordinance (Cap. 24)

2. Commodity Exchanges (Prohibition) Ordinance (Cap. 82)

3. Commodities Trading Ordinance (Cap. 250)

4. Securities Ordinance (Cap. 333)

5. Stock Exchanges Unification Ordinance (Cap. 361)

6. Securities (Insider Dealing) Ordinance (Cap. 395)

7. Securities (Disclosure of Interests) Ordinance (Cap. 396)

8. Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Ordinance (Cap. 451)

1 The adaptation is in the context of the definition of "corporation" that excludes any body corporate that is incorporated in Hong Kong and is a public authority or an organ or agency of the Crown (section 2 of Commodities Trading Ordinance (Cap. 250) and Securities Ordinance (Cap. 333) respectively). The adaptation of "Crown" to "Government" in similar contexts has been accepted by previous Bills Committees on the adaptation bills. By this definition, the application of the respective Ordinances to such body corporate is excluded.