*********************************************************
The Department of Justice will conduct a recruitment exercise for Government Counsel (GC) around October this year.
"Similar to the recruitment exercise last year, GC applicants will need to obtain a Level 2 result in the Use of English (UE) paper and a Level 1 result in the Use of Chinese (UC) paper in the Common Recruitment Examination (CRE)," a spokesman for the department said.
In this connection, grade C or above in Use of English in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) is accepted as equivalent to Level 2 in the UE paper in the CRE; grade D or above in Chinese Language and Culture or Chinese Language and Literature in the HKALE is accepted as equivalent to Level 1 in the UC paper in the CRE.
"In exceptional circumstances, candidates may be exempted from compliance with the Chinese language requirement," the spokesman said.
He added that since the recruitment exercise in 2008, candidates applying for the GC post would need to take a Basic Law Test (BLT). While the BLT is not mandatory, its results will be taken into account in considering the suitability of a candidate for appointment.
The next combined CRE and BLT and a further standalone BLT will respectively be held on a Saturday in October and a Saturday in December. Candidates without the BLT result and/or the requisite results in CRE, or equivalent, are invited to apply to sit for the relevant tests, to be held in October or December, between August 7 and 20, 2009.
Further information on the CRE and BLT and online application facilities will be available on the homepage of the Civil Service Bureau (under the ¡§Recruitment¡¨ section) at www.csb.gov.hk from August 7, 2009.
Ends/Thursday, August 6, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:00
NNNN
