BANKRUPTCY (AMENDMENT) BILL 1987
Enclosure No. 4
A BILL
To
Amend the Bankruptcy Ordinance.
Enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent
of the Legislative Council thereof.
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Short title. Ordinance 1987.
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2. Section 9(1) of the principal Ordinance is amended by deleting "same manner as a writ of summons unless some other manner of service be prescribed❞ and substituting the following—
"prescribed manner".
3. Section 93 of the principal Ordinance is amended—
(a) by deleting subsection (3) and substituting the following-
"(3) The trustee shall furnish the Official Receiver with such vouchers and information relating to the account as he requires, and the Official Receiver may at any time require the production of, and inspect, any books or accounts kept by the trustee.
(3A) The Official Receiver may at any time cause the account to be audited.";
(b) in subsection (4) by deleting "it shall be filed and kept by the
Official Receiver and" and substituting the following-
Amendment of section 9. (Cap. 6.)
Amendment of section 93.
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Amendment of section 114.
BANKRUPTCY (AMENDMENT) BILL 1987
"(or, as the case may be, forthwith if the Official Receiver decides that the account need not be audited) one copy thereof shall be filed and kept by the Official Receiver, and the other copy shall be delivered to the court for filing, and each copy";
(c) by inserting after subsection (4) the following-
"(4A) Notwithstanding the fact that unaudited copies of an account have already been filed, the Official Receiver may subsequently cause that account to be audited, and in that event a copy of the audited account shall be filed and kept by the Official Receiver, and a further copy shall be delivered to the court for filing, and each copy shall be open, upon payment of the prescribed fee, to the inspection of any creditor or of the bankrupt or of any person interested."; and
(d) in subsection (5) by deleting “, after such audit or examination,”.
4.
Section 114 of the principal Ordinance is amended-
(a) in subsection (1) by inserting after "Legislative Council," the
following
"by order"; and
(b) by inserting, after subsection (2), the following-
(of 1987.)
"(3) The amount of any fees prescribed under this section. shall not be limited by reference to the amount of administra- tive or other costs incurred or likely to be incurred by the Official Receiver in proceedings in bankruptcy or in any particular bankruptcy.
(4) Orders made under this section may authorize the court to fix any fee or to vary the amount of any fee otherwise prescribed.
(5) No fee prescribed under this section shall be invalid by reason only of the amount of that fee.
(6) Fees required to be paid under orders made under this section shall be recoverable as a debt.
(7) Orders made under this section before the com- mencement of the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Ordinance 1987 and in force immediately before such commencement, shall have effect as from the commencement of that Ordinance as if made under this section as amended by that Ordinance.".
Explanatory Memorandum
The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Bankruptcy Ordinance in relation to the service of creditors' bankruptcy petitions, the accounts of trustees in bankruptcy and the fees payable in bankruptcy proceedings.
"
BANKRUPTCY (AMENDMENT) BILL 1987
2. Clause 2 amends section 9 by deleting the requirement that bank- ruptcy petitions be served in the same manner as writs of summons unless some other manner is prescribed and instead, provides that petitions shall be served only in the prescribed manner. The manner of serving petitions is prescribed in the Bankruptcy Rules.
3. Clause 3 amends section 93 to remove the requirement for the Official Receiver to audit the periodic accounts of trustees in bankruptcy sent to him under this section. The Official Receiver is given instead a discretion whether or not to audit such accounts.
4.
Clause 4 amends section 114 to authorize fees to be prescribed, by order, in bankruptcy proceedings to provide that the amount of fees pre- scribed is not limited by the costs incurred by the Official Receiver and that no prescribed fee is invalid by reason only of its amount; and to provide that orders made under section 114 prior to amendment by this Bill shall have effect as if made under the section as so amended.
5. The Bill has no Public Service staffing or public expenditure implications.
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1987年破產(修訂)條例草案
摘要說明
本條例草案旨在修訂破產條例中與下列事項有關的規定:即債權人破產 訴狀的送達,破產案受託人的帳目,以及進行破產訴訟所需繳付的費用。
2.
草案第2條修訂原有條例第9條,即删除以下規定:除非另有其他法定 送達方式,否則,破產訴狀必須以送達傳訊令的同樣方式送達。取而代之,本條例 草案另外規定,訴狀只能以法定方式送達。至於訴狀的送達方式,則在破產規則中 有所規定。
3.
草案第3條修訂原有條例第93條,即撤銷以下規定:破產管理官須對 根據原有條例第93條規定而交其審核的破產案受託人定期帳目,加以審核。取而 代之,破產管理官獲授酌處權,自行決定是否對該等帳目加以審核
。
4.
草案第4條修訂原有條例第14條,從而授權:破產訴訟的收費可用命 令形式釐定;並且,所釐定的費用並不限於破產管理官所招致的開支;此外,所釐 定的費用不會僅因數額大小的原因而失效。上述修訂同時規定,在原有條例第114 條未經本條例草案修訂前制定的命令,與在原有條例經是項修訂之後制定的命令 同樣有效
。
5. 本草案對政府開支和人手需求方面都没有影响。
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