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The Rehabilitation of Offenders Ordinance was designed to
cater for local conditions. It cannot proscribe the attitude
which other states should take to offences, and it cannot be
used to remove any individual's responsibility to make a full
disclosure of offences if required to do so for emigration
purposes.
11-15
These matters are discussed more fully in paras.
of the paper 'A spent conviction scheme for Hong Kong
a proposal' published by the Attorney General's Chambers in
December 1984.
6.
7
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However, to assist applicants with a recorded
conviction which is regarded as 'spent' in Hong Kong by virtue
of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Ordinance, the police
clearly endorse any letters of refusal to grant a certificate
with a chop, stating that:
This conviction is regarded as spent in Hong Kong by
virtue of section 2(1) of the Rehabilitation of
Offenders Ordinance.
The authorities receiving the letter will know from this
endorsement that the offence is regarded as trivial and is not
given any further consideration in Hong Kong. They will,
however, as I have said, in any case exercise their judgement,
stat
and are free to disregard offences that are not yet considered
'spent' in Hong Kong, or are not even covered by the
Rehabilitation of Offenders Ordinance.
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