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The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:
A total of 93 responses giving views on the various proposals of the Interim Report and Consultative Paper ("Consultative Paper") on the Civil Justice Reform have been received, Chairman of the Working Party on Civil Justice Reform, the Honourable Mr Justice Patrick Chan said today (July 2).
The consultation exercise was concluded on June 30 after a two-month extension. The decision to extend the consultation period, originally scheduled to close on April 30, was made in the light of a request from the Council of the Hong Kong Bar Association.
The responses have come from the Hong Kong Bar Association, the Law Society of Hong Kong, government departments, interested parties and organisations as well as members of the public. Members and support staff of the Judiciary have also submitted their comments.
"The Working Party will give careful consideration to all the views gathered during the consultation. They will be studied in detail and taken into account during the preparation of the Final Report," Justice Chan said.
"It is the aim of the Working Party to submit the Final Report for consideration of the Chief Justice in early 2003.
"The implementation timetable will depend on what specific recommendations will be made in the Final Report having regard to the responses received," he added.
The Working Party on Civil Justice Reform, appointed by the Honourable Chief Justice Andrew Kwok-nang Li, issued the Consultative Paper with 80 proposals in November last year to invite views on possible changes to rules and procedures of the civil justice system in Hong Kong.
A total of 5,000 copies of the Consultative Paper and 12,000 copies of the Executive Summary (in bilingual versions) have been distributed to the public. 550 copies of CD-ROM have been collected. Copies of the Consultative Paper and the Executive Summary have also been placed as reference papers in public libraries run by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. A dedicated website set up for the consultation exercise recorded a total of 38,270 hit rates as at June 30.
Justice Chan said the Working Party believed that the adoption of a series of possible changes in a coordinated and mutually-supporting way was likely to reduce complexity of the civil justice system, court-related litigation costs and delays.
Other members of the Working Party include the Hon. Mr Justice Ribeiro (Deputy Chairman, Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal); the Hon. Mr Justice Rogers (Vice-President of the Court of Appeal); the Hon. Mr Justice Seagroatt, the Hon. Mr Justice Hartmann and the Hon. Madam Justice Chu (Judges of the Court of First Instance of the High Court); Deputy Judge Poon; Mr Ambrose Ho S.C. (Barrister); Mr Patrick Swain (Solicitor); Mr Ian Wingfield (Department of Justice); Mr Shu-ying Chan (Legal Aid Department); Professor Michael Wilkinson (Professor of Law, University of Hong Kong); and Mrs Pamela Chan (Lay member).
End/Tuesday, July 2, 2002
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