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The Allowances to Jurors (Amendment) Order 2015 made by the Chief Executive in Council on January 27 under section 31 of the Jury Ordinance was gazetted today (February 6). The Order aims at increasing the rates of allowances for jurors. It will be tabled at the Legislative Council (LegCo) on February 11 for negative vetting.
Separately, the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee made the Criminal Procedure (Witnesses' Allowances) (Amendment) Rules 2015 on January 13 under section 9B of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance, and the Chief Justice made the Coroners (Witnesses' Allowances) (Amendment) Rules 2015 on January 15 under section 54 of the Coroners Ordinance, to increase the rates of allowances for witnesses in criminal proceedings and coroners' inquests respectively. The intention is to seek the approval of the LegCo for these two sets of Rules on March 18.
A Government spokesman said, "The increases aim at maintaining the real value of the rates of allowances to minimise any financial loss suffered by members of the public serving as jurors or testifying as witnesses in courts. The proposed rates of allowances have been worked out on the basis of the adjustment mechanism approved by the Finance Committee of the LegCo and refined recently."
In October 1993, when approving the rates of allowances for jurors and witnesses, the Finance Committee of the LegCo approved that future changes in the rates of allowances for jurors and witnesses be made in accordance with the movements of the following adjustment indicators:
(a) rates for jurors and ordinary witnesses - to be made in accordance with the movements in the Median Monthly Employment Earnings of Employees (MMEE) in Hong Kong; and
(b) rates for professional and expert witnesses - to be made in accordance with the changes in the mid-point salary of a Medical and Health Officer in Hong Kong as recorded in the Master Pay Scale of the Civil Service Grades, Ranks and Pay Scales.
At the biennial review conducted by the Judiciary Administration (JA) in 2014, as a refinement measure, the MMEE to be adopted should more appropriately be changed from the overall MMEE (the computation of which is based on the composition of employees aged 15 or above, irrespective of their educational level) to a stratified MMEE (computed on the basis of the composition of employees who fulfill the requirement of being empanelled as jurors, i.e. aged 21 or above and below 65 with education standard of matriculation or above, or equivalent.) The ceiling of the amount of additional jurors' allowances should continue to be set at the same level as the jurors' allowances and should be adjusted accordingly.
Subject to the completion of the relevant legislative process, the revised rates of allowances for jurors and witnesses will take effect on a date to be specified by the Chief Justice.
Ends/Friday, February 6, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:00
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