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DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
Members of the Legislative Council (the Council) are required under the Rules of Procedure of the Council to declare the particulars of their pecuniary interests and to report any change in the interests already declared and registered. The particulars of pecuniary interests declared by Members are entered in a Register of Members' Interests which is available for inspection by the public. The main purpose of the Register of Members' Interests is to provide information of any pecuniary interest or other material benefit which a Member receives which might reasonably be thought by others to influence his actions as a Member of the Council. It is left to individual Members to give the required information. Each Member is responsible for what is recorded about himself in the Register, as each is answerable to his fellow Members and the public. The scope of the Register of Members' Interests seeks to balance, on the one hand, what should be publicly known about Members of the Council with, on the other, the proper degree of privacy to which they and their families are entitled. There is a standing committee called the Committee on Members' Interests which examines the arrangements for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members' Interests. It also considers matters pertaining to the declaration of interests by Members. Registration of Interests Members are required to declare particulars of registrable interests in a prescribed form not later than the first meeting of each term and to report any change in such registrable interests within 14 days of the change. In the case of a new Member, he is required to declare his registrable interests within 14 days from the date of his becoming a new Member to fill a vacant seat. The particulars of registrable interests declared by Members are entered in a Register of Members' Interests which is maintained by the Council Secretariat and is available for inspection by the public. Registrable Interests There are eight classes of registrable interests. These include: (a) remunerated directorships of companies, public or private; (b) remunerated employments, offices, trades, professions or vocations; (c) the names of clients when the interests referred to above include personal services by Members which arise out of or are related in any manner to his membership of the Council; (d) (i) all donations, as a candidate in the Legislative Council election in which the Member was elected as a Member of the Council, received by the Member or any person on his behalf for the purpose of meeting the Member's election expenses in the election; or
(e) overseas visits made by the Member or his spouse relating to or arising out of membership of the Council where the cost of any such visit has not been wholly borne by the Member or public funds; (f) any payments or any material benefits or advantages received by the Member or his spouse arising out of his membership of the Council from or on behalf of - (i) any government or organization of a place outside Hong Kong; or (ii) any person who is not a Hong Kong permanent resident; (g) land and property; (h) the names of companies or other bodies in which the Member has, to his knowledge, either himself or with or on behalf of his spouse or infant children, a beneficial interest in shareholdings of a nominal value greater than one-hundredth of the issued share capital. Sanctions There are provisions for the imposition of sanctions for non-compliance with the Rules of Procedure of the Council relating to declaration of interests. Types of sanction include admonition, reprimand and suspension.
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