Brief on Public Order (Amendment) Bill 1986
Introduction
On 11 March, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed the Public Order (Amendment) Bill 1986 after extensive public consultation and a lively debate among Members. The purpose of the new legislation is to liberalise the law on the control of publications by repealing statutory provisions which are out of date and are not in line with freedoms practised in Hong Kong. Powers, for example, to suspend publications and to seize printing presses were removed. However, the new legislation retains the offence of the 'publication of false news which is likely to alarm public opinion or disturb public order', because of the dire social consequences of such an act.
Background
2.
After a thorough review of existing legislation dealing with the control of publications, two bills, namely the Control of Publications Consolidation (Amendment) Bill 1986 and the Public Order (Amendment) Bill 1986 were introduced to amend legislation which deals with the control of newspapers. The Hong Kong media requested and supported this review.
3.
The original legislation had been on the statute book for nearly 40 years and many of its provisions were outdated and were inappropriate in present day circumstances. The main aim of these bills was to update and liberalise existing legislation on the control of publications, and to bring the law into line with the freedoms practised in Hong Kong.
4.
These bills proposed the repeal of most of the control provisions that existed in the Control of Publications (Consolidation) Ordinance. These included provisions which:
make it an offence to print or publish anything of a subversive nature;
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(£)
(g)
provide for the suppression of newspapers and the suspension of their publications;
provide for the prohibition of importation of publications;
provide for the Registrar of Newspapers to refuse or suspend the registration of news agencies;
provide for the seizure of printing presses;
provide for the search, seizure, forfeiture and disposal of articles used for
contravening the ordinance; and
allow the Registrar to refuse to license or cancel the licence of distributors.