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The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:
The Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance 2014 (the Ordinance) will come into operation tomorrow (December 24) when it is gazetted, except Part 7 of the Ordinance (which concerns amendments relating to suitors' funds) which will come into operation on a day to be appointed by the Chief Justice.
The following legislative amendments will come into operation:
(a) repealing section 22(1)(a) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance so that all appeals in civil causes or matters to the Court of Final Appeal (the CFA) become subject to discretionary leave of the Court of Appeal or the CFA;
(b) amending the definition of "live television link" in section 79A of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance in the context of evidence-taking for criminal proceedings so that suitable audio-visual facilities other than a closed circuit television system such as video conferencing facilities may also be adopted, subject to the approval of the Chief Justice. Administratively, to ensure that the relevant facilities will be equipped with security protection features, the Judiciary will consult the Criminal Court Users' Committee on the use of such technologies;
(c) amending section 80 of the District Court Ordinance to dispense with the existing requirement for a District Judge to orally deliver the reasons for a verdict in a criminal case, thereby giving the District Judge flexibility to hand down the reasons in writing direct in appropriate cases. The Ordinance provides for the delivery of such reasons, including making them available to the public through the Internet;
(d) amending section 5AA of the Magistrates Ordinance to allow a person's period(s) of experience as a Special Magistrate to be combined with period(s) of other types of legal practice or service to fulfill the requisite minimum five-year period eligibility requirement to be appointed as Permanent Magistrate; and
(e) amending the Labour Tribunal Ordinance and its subsidiary legislation to improve the operations of the Labour Tribunal in a few areas, including clarifying the Labour Tribunal's jurisdiction, enhancing its case management powers and aligning the time limit for enforcing its awards or orders with other civil claims.
The Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council on December 17 and will be published in the Gazette on December 24.
As to the legislative amendments relating to the mode of delivery of the reasons for a verdict in the District Court (see (c) above), the Judiciary has issued a new Practice Direction entitled "Practice Direction - 33: Section 80 of the District Court Ordinance, Cap 336", which will also take effect on December 24.
The Practice Direction is available at the Judiciary website: legalref.judiciary.gov.hk/lrs/common/ju/newpds.jsp.
Ends/Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:00
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