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The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:

The Report of the Working Party on the Review of the Labour Tribunal (Working Party) is published today (June 30).

The Working Party was appointed by the Chief Justice in June, 2003, with the following terms of reference:

"To review the operation of the Labour Tribunal and to recommend improvements thereto."

The Working Party, chaired by the Hon Madam Justice Chu, Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, was established by the Chief Justice following the request made by the Legislative Council Panel on the Administration of Justice and Legal Services (AJLS) and Panel on Manpower for the Judiciary to review the practice and procedures of the Labour Tribunal.

Other members of the Working Party are the Hon Mr Justice Lam, Judge of the Court of First Instance, Mr Lung Kim-wan, Deputy Registrar of the High Court, HH Judge Au Yeung, Chief Magistrate Mr Patrick Li and Magistrate Mr Josiah Lam.

The Working Party has now completed the review and submitted its Report to the Chief Justice on June 29, 2004. In its Report, the Working Party has made various recommendations relating to the operation of the Labour Tribunal.

"The Chief Justice will be considering the recommendations in the Report and the way forward," the Judiciary spokesman said.

Copies of the Working Party's Report were sent to the LegCo AJLS and Manpower Panels today. The full Report (English version) has been uploaded onto the Judiciary's website (see below) for public access. The Chinese version will be uploaded shortly.

http://www.judiciary.gov.hk/en/publications/lt_review_report-final.pdf

Ends/Wednesday, June 30, 2004

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