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Following is a speech by the Secretary for the Treasury, Miss Denise Yue, in moving the second reading of Adaptation of Laws (No. 6) Bill 1998 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Madam President,

I move that the Adaptation of Laws (No. 6) Bill 1998 be read the second time.

The Bill aims at adapting 12 Ordinances and their subsidiary legislation which are related to Government revenue in order to make them consistent with the Basic Law and the status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

All the Ordinances included in the Bill have already been adopted as laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Some of the references in these Ordinances, e.g. references to "the Governor", "the Governor in Council", "the Crown", are inconsistent with the Basic Law or the status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Although the Hong Kong Reunification Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance have laid down how these references should be construed, it is considered unacceptable to retain such references in the ordinances included in the Bill. Therefore, we have introduced the Bill to effect textual amendments to these Ordinances.

When the adaptation amendments set out in the Bill are passed into law, they would take effect retrospectively as from the date of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The Bill enables us to dispense with the need to make reference to the Hong Kong Reunification Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance when referring to the 12 Ordinances. I hope Honourable Members will support the Bill.

Thank you.

End/Wednesday, November 11, 1998

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