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The purpose of the meetings in question was to provide a forum for lawyers from private practice, Hong Kong University and from Government to discuss human rights generally. The meetings drew no conclusions nor did they aim to do so. Various documents were prepared and discussed but no draft Bill was prepared. At the last meeting those attending agreed that as the topics had been fully discussed there was no call for further meetings on the same issue.
(iii) The Public Order (Amendment) Order 1987 Section 27 (pages 4-7 of the commentary): the Hong Kong Government have now completed the review to which page 7 of the commentary refers. A bill to repeal Section 27 of the Ordinance was introduced into the Legislative Council on 14 December.
(iv) The Film Censorship Ordinance 1988 (pages 7-9 of the commentary): the commentary asserts that "the Hong Kong Government have been censoring films for 34 years without legal authority". This has not been established. Opinions differ and an action brought by one film distributor to settle the question has not been continued.
The British and Hong Kong Governments do not share the view of Article 19 that section 10(2)(c) of the Film Censorship Ordinance 1988 is incompatible with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They believe that the considerations referred to in section 10(2)(c) of the Ordinance are ones which it is legitimate to take into account within the limits prescribed by paragraph 3 of Article 19 of the Covenant. Moreover, while the Governments note the welcome given to the inclusion of a specific reference to Article 19 in section 10(3)(d) of the Ordinance, they do not accept the criticism of the words "shall take into account" in the chapeau to that section: the censor may consider that the legal obligations set out in Article 19 should determine in a particular case the course of action he should take. The Governments are, therefore, satisfied that in carrying out his functions the censor will not act in such a way as to lead to a breach of Article 19.
You may find it helpful to see the enclosed extract from the Guidelines for Censors which have been published in the Hong Kong Government Gazette. These set out the procedure to be followed when censoring a film.
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