Recruitment arrangements for Government Counsel applicants
**********************************************************

     The Department of Justice today (August 2) reminded potential applicants for the post of Government Counsel (GC) that they are required to obtain a certain level of results in the Common Recruitment Examination (CRE) in order to be qualified for the post.

     A spokesman for the department said that the GC recruitment exercise would be conducted around October this year. Similar to last year's recruitment exercise, the applicants will be required 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 of the CRE.

     In this connection, grade C or above in Use of English in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) will be accepted as equivalent to Level 2 in the CRE's UE paper, and grade D or above in Chinese Language and Culture or Chinese Language and Literature in the HKALE will be accepted as equivalent to Level 1 in the CRE's UC paper.

     Under exceptional circumstances applicants may be exempted from compliance with the Chinese language requirement, the spokesman added.

     Since 2008, applicants for the GC post should also take a Basic Law Test (BLT). While not mandatory, the results of the BLT will be taken into account in considering the suitability of a candidate for appointment.

     The next CRE and BLT will be held on October 6 and 13, 2012. Potential applicants for the GC post without the requisite results in the CRE, or equivalent, and/or who wish to sit the BLT, are invited to apply between August 3 and 16, 2012, to sit the relevant examination and/or test.

     Further information on the CRE and BLT is available on the homepage of the Civil Service Bureau (under the "Recruitment" section) at www.csb.gov.hk.

Ends/Thursday, August 2, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:00

NNNN