CONFIDENTIAL
Whether the
Chinese need
to be consulted/
- 2 -
Annex I Section II: Legal System
CA Branch Liaison Officer: PAS(CA) 4
Date for HMG/HKG
10th Edition (June 1990)
deliberation
Item &
JD/BL reference
Action
informed and
to start
Officer
if so, timing
b. Development of bilingual laws
LD
Not necessary.
Already started
(JD 51) (BL Art. 9)
* Please mark an '*' against the officer with overall responsibility
CL3
Present Position
The programme for bilingual legislation is now underway, with several sinophone Counsel and Law Translation Officers in post. A Bilingual Laws Advisory Committee has been set up and is now advising on Chinese texts for existing laws with a view to having them declared as authentic texts under the Official Languages Ordinance.
The Standing Orders of Legislative Council have been amended to enable Bills to be introduced in English or Chinese and amendments to be made in either language. The Official Languages Ordinance has been amended to require every Ordinance (other than one which amends an English-only Ordinance)
Relevant Considerations
Nil
Target Completion Date
1995 (Chinese version of existing laws to be in place and requirement for new subsidiary legislation to be in English and Chinese to be in force.)
CONFIDENTIAL