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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council Secretariat (the Secretariat) launched a two-month public consultation today (July 12) on a proposed policy on public access to information and records kept by the Secretariat and issues relating to the formulation of such a policy.
To better provide information and records access service for the public, the Secretariat, under the direction of the Legislative Council Commission (the Commission), is in the process of preparing an access to information policy which will formalise the existing practice of the Secretariat in this respect, set out the maximum records closure periods and provide the rules and procedures for dealing with public access requests.
At present, most of the information and records kept by the Secretariat are already available for public access on the Legislative Council (LegCo) website and in the LegCo Library or LegCo Archives. Members of the public or the media can also make requests to the Secretariat
for access to other information and records, and such requests are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
"The Commission recognises the importance of informing the public about the work of LegCo and promoting openness and public confidence in its decisions and activities," a spokesperson for the Secretariat said, adding that the formulation of an access to information policy would further enhance the provision of information and records access service for the public.
To facilitate its consideration of the proposed access to information policy and related issues, the Commission has decided to conduct a public consultation exercise to seek the public's views on the proposed policy and related issues by means of a questionnaire. Detailed information about the public consultation can be found at the following webpage: www.legco.gov.hk/general/english/sec/info_policy/public_consultation.htm.¡@
Members of the public and interested parties are invited to complete and submit the questionnaire online, or download and complete the questionnaire and return it to the Secretariat by email, by mail or by fax. The deadline for submitting the questionnaire is September 11, 2013.
Enquiries can be directed to the Secretariat at 3919 3601 or 3919 3605.
Ends/Friday, July 12, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:47
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