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The Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, met six Legislative Council Members this afternoon (July 27) to exchange views on the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill.
On the proposal for a "sunset clause" in the Bill providing for the enacted legislation to expire after a certain period of time, Mr Lee noted that the proposal had been raised and discussed at a Bills Committee of the Legislative Council as early as April this year. "We had said then that we preferred following the normal legislative procedure, and that as was the practice with other new legislation, we would monitor and review the implementation of the legislation after enactment," Mr Lee said.
"We continued to think that it was not necessary for us to depart from the practice and introduce such a sunset clause. The relevant issues had been extensively discussed among various parties in the community in different contexts since the Law Reform Commission published a report in 1996. The Bill itself had gone through comprehensive and detailed examination by the Bills Committee, with some 120 hours of discussion in 46 meetings over a period spanning more than five months."
The Administration has proposed nearly 190 Committee Stage Amendments to further refine the Bill after taking into account the views of legislators and various parties during scrutiny of the Bill.
Mr Lee said the Bill with the proposed amendments had already provided stringent safeguards for privacy, and compared favourably with, and in some aspects allowed even better protection than, similar legislation in comparable common law jurisdictions.
He added that the law enforcement agencies would strictly follow the new regulatory regime provided for under the new law and fully respect the freedom and privacy of communications of the people. Law enforcement agencies would conduct covert operations only if it is necessary for the purpose of prevention or detection of serious crime or protection of public security.
Mr Lee agreed with the views of legislators expressed at the Bills Committee discussion that reviews should be conducted after the Bill was passed so that further improvements to the regime could be introduced as appropriate. There will be reviews in respect of issues arising from the annual reports to be presented by the Commissioner on Interception of Communications and Surveillance, which will be tabled at the Legislative Council. In addition, a comprehensive review of the implementation of the legislation would also be carried out after the Commissioner presented the second full-year annual report (i.e. in mid- 2009), he said. It is anticipated that the review will be completed by end 2009, and the Legislative Council will be advised on the outcome.
The Legislative Council will hold a special meeting on August 2 to resume the debate on the second reading of the Bill.
Ends/Thursday, July 27, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:39
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