18
MONEY LENDERS (AMENDMENT) BILL 1988
3. Clause 2(1)(e) inserts a new definition of "licensing court" į section 2(1) of the principal Ordinance to reflect that a licensing court ma now be constituted by a magistrate sitting alone as well as a magistrate sitting with 2 assessors.
4. Clause 2(1)(ƒ) amends the definition of "money lender" in section 2(1) of the principal Ordinance to provide that references in the principal Ordinance to "money lender" shall not, in respect of a loan specified in Part 2 of Schedule I to the principal Ordinance, include any person who makes such loan.
5. Clause 3 repeals and replaces section 3 of the principal Ordinance. The repealed section 3(1)(a) of the principal Ordinance is redundant because Parts II and III of the principal Ordinance do not apply to any person specified in Part 1 of the First Schedule to the principal Ordinance (that is, the provisions of those Parts relate to money lenders and the definition of "money lender" in section 2(1) of the principal Ordinance “does not include a person specified in Part 1 of the First Schedule"). Similarly, the repealed section 3(1)(b) of the principal Ordinance is redundant because of the amendment made by clause 2(1)(ƒ) to the definition of “money lender" in section 2(1) of the principal Ordinance. The repealed section 3(2) of the principal Ordinance now appears as new section 33D of the principal Ordinance (see clause 31). New section 3 provides that the principal Ordinance shall not apply to authorized institutions within the meaning of the Banking Ordinance (being licensed banks and licensed or registered deposit-taking companies) or, in respect of a loan to such an institution, any person who makes such loan.
6. Clause 5 amends section 5(2) of the principal Ordinance to widen the circumstances in which information obtained under the principal Ordinance may be disclosed.
7. Clause 6 inserts a new section 6A in the principal Ordinance. The new section is a general evidentiary provision relating to the admissibility in court proceedings of copies of entries in the register (kept under section 4(2) of the principal Ordinance) when certified by the Registrar or by a person authorized by him.
8. Clause 8 deletes subsection (5) of section 9 of the principal Ordinance and inserts a new subsection (5). The new subsection refers to applications to be licensed as a money lender being lodged with "such magistrate" as the Registrar "deems fit", rather than in "the office of a magistrate", because Hong Kong is not divided into jurisdictional areas where magistrates exercise their powers but has a single pool of magistrates which may exercise jurisdiction in any part of Hong Kong. Hence the reason for deleting the anomalous reference to "office of a magistrate".
9. Clause 9 repeals section 10 of the principal Ordinance and inserts new sections 10, 10A, 10B and 10C.
10. The new section 10 provides that the licensing court considering an application to be licensed as a money lender may be constituted by magistrate sitting alone (that is, without assessors) where-
(a) no notice of objection to the application is served by the Registrar
or the Commissioner of Police; and
(b) no notice of objection to the application is served by any other
person under section 11(2)(b)(i) of the principal Ordinance.