**********************************************
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So, on the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 after attending a radio programme today (December 19):
Reporter: Mr So, do you expect the bill could be put to vote in weeks or in months? And also some groups including legal groups have said that the strong opposition from the community actually boiled down to a deep mistrust of the government. How would you address this concern?
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: Your first question is when will the bill be passed and I would like it to have been passed a long time ago. Our law is hopelessly outdated by many years and this is a good package that we can bring the law up-to-date. How many more weeks or months that this will be required? I hope that we could have this passed as soon as possible.
The second question is about why the law is not passed. I think a lot of it is really due to the misunderstanding of the nature of the bill. Some misunderstanding is actually about the existing law. I think in the coming days and weeks, we will make every opportunity to explain to people the points of the bill and how it will impact, and to clarify the existing law.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, December 19, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:09
NNNN
