LC Paper No. LS 81/98-99

Date of Tabling in LegCo	:	6 January 1999
Amendment to be made by	:	3 February 1999 (or 10 February 1999 if extended by resolution)

Country Parks Ordinance (Cap. 208)
Country Parks (Designation) (Consolidation) (Amendment) Order 1998 (L.N. 382)

This Order amends the Country Parks (Designation) (Consolidation) Order (Cap. 208 sub. leg.) to replace the approved map in respect of Ma On Shan Country Park with a new approved map so that about 0.1 hectare of abandoned agricultural land from the Ma On Shan Country Park can be excised for the widening of Sai Sha Road.

Tai Po Provisional District Board, and the Country and Marine Parks Board were consulted. No objection was raised.

Members may refer to the LegCo Brief (File ref.: PELB(E)55/21/13(98) issued by the Planning, Environment and Lands Bureau in December 1998 for background information.

Country Parks Ordinance (Cap. 208)
Lung Fu Shan Country Park (Designation) Order 1998 (L.N. 383)

This Order is made by the Chief Executive under section 14 of the Country Parks Ordinance (Cap. 208) after consultation with the Executive Council. The areas delineated and coloured pink on map CP/LFSB deposited in the Land Registry are designated as the Lung Fu Shan Country Park. The Country Park will be protected and managed by the Agricultural and Fisheries Department.

The Administration had consulted the Environment and Works Committee of the Central and Western Provisional District Board. The Country and Marine Parks Board was also consulted. Both Boards supported the proposal.

Members may refer to the LegCo Brief issued by the Planning, Environment and Lands Bureau in December 1998 for further details.

Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance (Cap. 349)
Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation (Exclusion) Order (L.N. 384)

This Order excludes the following premises from the application of the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance (Cap. 349):

1. Premises to which the provisions of the Child Care Services Ordinance (Cap. 243) apply.
   
   
2. Premises to which the provisions of the Clubs (Safety of Premises) Ordinance (Cap. 376) apply.
   
   
3. Premises to which the provisions of the Bedspace Apartments Ordinance (Cap. 447) apply.
   
   
4. Premises to which the provisions of the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance (Cap. 459) apply.
   
   
5. Premises in which all accommodation is exclusively provided on the basis of a minimum period of 28 continuous days for each letting and no waiver, refund or reduction of fees will be made if the letting is for any reason shortened to less than 28 continuous days.

Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)
Designation of Libraries (Urban Council Area) (No. 5) Order 1998 (L.N. 385)

This Order replaces the designation of the existing Lockhart Road Public Library at the fourth and fifth floors of Urban Council Lockhart Road Complex, 225 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong by Unit C of the third floor, the fourth and fifth floors of Urban Council Lockhart Road Complex, 225 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)
Designation of Museums (Amendment) Order 1998 (L.N. 386)

This Order designates the Hong Kong Museum of History at 100 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon as a museum for the purposes of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132). The building located at Blocks S61 and S62, Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon shall cease to be designated as a museum for the purposes of that Ordinance.

Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)
Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Public Markets) (Designation and Amendment of Tenth Schedule) (No. 2) Order 1998 (L.N. 387)
Declaration of Markets in the Urban Council Area (Amendment) (No. 2) Declaration 1998 (L.N. 388)

By these two orders, the Provisional Urban Council declares Ap Lei Chau Market in the Ap Lei Chau Complex as a market and also designates it as a public market.

Legal Practitioners Ordinance (Cap. 159)
Solicitors' Practice (Amendment) (No. 4) Rules 1998 (L.N. 389)

The main purpose of these Rules is to require all Hong Kong solicitors to be granted a waiver of rule 4 of the Solicitors' Practice Rules (Cap. 159 sub. leg.) of the Council of The Law Society of Hong Kong in order to share profit costs with lawyers qualified in other jurisdictions who are not admitted as solicitors in Hong Kong, and to make a declaration in Form 1 of the Schedule to those Rules that they have not shared their profit costs with any person not being a solicitor practising in Hong Kong except where a waiver has been granted by the Council or as set out in Schedule 1 to Form 1.

These Rules have come into operation on 1 January 1999.

Estate Agents Ordinance (Cap. 511)
Estate Agents Ordinance (Cap. 511) (Commencement) (No. 2) Notice 1998 (L.N. 390)

The Secretary for Housing appoints 1 January 1999 as the day on which some provisions of the Ordinance relating to the licensing scheme of the estate agents are to come into operation.

Ozone Layer Protection Ordinance (Cap. 403)
Ozone Layer Protection (Controlled Refrigerants) Regulation (Cap. 403 Sub. Leg.) (Commencement) Notice 1998 (L.N. 391)

This Regulation was made by the then Governor in Council on 11 May 1993. A General Notice No. 4794 appointing 1 January 1994 as the day of commencement of the Regulation was published in the Gazette on 23 December 1993. The General Notice had not been laid on the table of the then Legislative Council as subsidiary legislation. The Administration took the view that another Commencement Notice had to be published to give the Regulation legal effect. It now appoints 1 January 1999 as the day on which the Regulation is to come into operation. Members may refer to the Information Paper dated December 1998 issued by the Planning, Environment and Lands Bureau for details.

The Legal Service Division has raised queries with the Administration on the legal effect of this second Commencement Notice. The Administration is of the view that the first purported exercise of the power of appointment of a commencement date was ineffective for failure to comply with the requirement to table the notice in the Legislative Council. This is the first time, as far as we are aware, that the Administration has identified an incident of such failure and has come to the view that the subsidiary legislation was therefore not validly made. Members should note that there is no binding judicial authority on the legal effect of subsidiary legislation made but not tabled in the Legislative Council. However, even assuming that the Administration's view is correct, the making of what appeared to be a second Commencement Notice may not be the best way to address the problem without causing confusion to those affected by the Regulation since 1 January 1994.

Although the Administration has confirmed that no prosecution action has been taken since 1994, Members may wish to consider other practical implications on the trade since that date and whether other legislative action such as the making of a validation ordinance for the 1994 Commencement Notice would be the more appropriate means of addressing the problem.

Tax Reserve Certificates Ordinance (Cap. 289)
Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (No. 5) Notice 1998 (L.N. 392)

This Notice fixes at 5.7083% per annum the rate of interest payable on tax reserve certificates issued on or after 21 December 1998.


Prepared by
Ho Ying-chu, Anita
Assistant Legal Adviser
Legislative Council Secretariat
4 January 1999