Legislative Council

LC Paper No. LS 63/98-99

Object of the Bill

To adapt certain Ordinances 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. G6/66/1/2C(98) issued by the Financial Services Bureau dated 11 November 1998.

Date of First Reading

3. 25 November 1998.

Comments

4. A list of the Ordinances affected by these amendments and a summary of the proposed amendments on terminology in the Bill are at Annexes A and B respectively. Members may note that the Ordinances set out at Annex A mainly deal with private banks except the Bills of Exchange Ordinance (Cap. 19). The proposed amendments are essentially technical drafting changes to individual Ordinances.

5. 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.

Public Consultation

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

Consultation with the LegCo Panel

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

Conclusion

8. Members may wish to decide whether a Bills Committee be formed to discuss the proposed amendments as listed in Annex B.


Prepared by

HO Ying-chu, Anita
Assistant Legal Adviser
Legislative Council Secretariat
23 November 1998

Annex A

Item No.	Ordinances
1.	Bills of Exchange Ordinance (Cap. 19)
2.	The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Ordinance (Cap. 70)
3.	Loans (Asian Development Bank) Ordinance (Cap. 271)
4.	Hang Lung Bank (Acquisition) Ordinance (Cap. 345)
5.	Standard Chartered Asia Limited Ordinance (Cap. 1136)
6.	Lloyds Bank (Merger) Ordinance (Cap. 1137)
7.	Royal Bank of Scotland Ordinance (Cap. 1138)
8.	Deutsche Bank (Merger) Ordinance (Cap. 1142)
9.	Rainier International Bank (Transfer of Hong Kong Undertaking) Ordinance (Cap. 1144)
10.	First Pacific Bank Limited Ordinance (Cap. 1146)
11.	Dao Heng Bank Limited Ordinance (Cap. 1152)
12.	Middle East Finance International Limited (Transfer of Undertaking) Ordinance (Cap. 1154)
13.	Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ordinance (Cap. 1160)
14.	The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (Merger of Subsidiaries) Ordinance (Cap. 1161)

Annex B

Original Terms	Proposed Amendments
Colony	Hong Kong
Governor/Governor in Council	Chief Executive/ Chief Executive in Council
the rights of Her Majesty the Queen, Her Heirs or Successors*	the rights of the Central People's Government or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Basic Law or other laws

NOTE

* According to paragraph 4 of the LegCo Brief, this amendment is based on item 10 of Annex 3 of the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Treatment of the Laws Previously in Force in Hong Kong in accordance with Article 160 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. In that item, it is stated that:

"10. Any reference in any provision to "nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or be deemed to affect the rights of Her Majesty the Queen, Her heirs or successors" shall be construed as a reference to "nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or be deemed to affect the rights of the Central (People's Government) or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Basic law or other laws.".

Such provision is now incorporated into item 21 of Schedule 8 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1).