***************************************

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Justice, the Hon Elsie Leung, in moving the second reading of the Adaptation of Laws (No.5) Bill 1998 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Madam President,

I move that the Adaptation of Laws (No. 5) Bill 1998 be read the second time.

The Bill seeks to bring terminological amendments to the Lands Tribunal Ordinance, the Labour Tribunal Ordinance, the Municipal Services Appeals Boards Ordinance, the Magistrates Ordinance, the Administrative Appeals Boards Ordinance and the Coroners Ordinance.

To bring the laws of the HKSAR into conformity with the Basic Law and with Hong Kong's status as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, the Hong Kong Reunification Ordinance provided, inter alia, for the inclusion of Schedule 8 in the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance. The Schedule sets out the principles for interpreting laws which continue to remain as the laws of the HKSAR. Despite this interim arrangement and the subsequent adaptation of court-related nomenclature and titles of judges under the Adaptation of Laws (Courts and Tribunals) Ordinance, it is considered unacceptable to retain terminologies which are inconsistent with the Basic Law in our statute books after the Reunification. We therefore propose legislation to bring about the necessary terminological amendments.

The Bill, when passed into the law, shall take effect retrospectively, as from the date of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Madam President, this Bill is important not only for bringing the above six ordinances into full conformity with the Basic Law and with Hong Kong's status as a Special Administrative Region, but is also required to obviate the need for cross-referencing to the Hong Kong Reunification Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance. I therefore commend it to this Council for early passage into law.

End/Wednesday, November 11, 1998

NNNN