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Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mrs Regina Ip, in the Legislative Council today (December 11):

Question:

The Government's General Regulations stipulate that before giving approval in principle to a drafting proposal, the Policy Secretary should consider whether it is necessary to consult the various interested parties outside the Government, and that the compilation of drafting instructions should commence only after such approval is available. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a) there were any cases in the past five years in which, before the public consultation period for the legislative proposal in question expired, the Policy Secretary concerned had already given approval in principle to a drafting proposal so that the compilation of the relevant drafting instructions could commence right away; if so, of the details and the rationale of the Policy Secretary concerned for adopting such a course of action;

(b) it has assessed whether the Administration's act of commencing the compilation of the relevant drafting instructions before the completion of the public consultation on the proposal for legislation in respect of Article 23 of the Basic Law has deviated from the provisions of the General Regulations; if it has, of the assessment results; and

(c) it has assessed whether the course of action referred to in (b) above will give the public an impression that the Administration has already finalized its decision on the legislative proposal in question, and is not conducting a comprehensive and genuine public consultation; if it has, of the assessment results?

Reply:

President,

(a) The General Regulations make no specific reference to the timing of compilation and issue of drafting instructions vis-a-vis public consultation exercise, if any, that may be conducted on the legislative proposals in question. For this reason, the Government does not keep the kind of statistics as required under part one of the question.

(b) and (c) The Government is conducting a public consultation on the proposals to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law. As I have explained at the meeting of the Legislative Council on October 23, the Security Bureau and the Department of Justice have begun preparatory work for the drafting instructions, which includes the reviewing of the public submissions that are being received. Since all the views and comments submitted during the public consultation period will be taken into account, we have not issued nor finalised any drafting instructions at this stage.

End/Wednesday, December 11, 2002

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