Q. 6

1990-07-20 18:20

INFORMATION SERVICES DEPT

JEVIL PENSAREE

والحية

852 521 7725 P.02/06

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hu 2417.

Freeze period. Why not accede to LegCo Ad Hoc Group's request ?

A. 6

Purpose of the freeze is to avoid destabilising effects of

legislative and operational vacuums, This is not a case of

'passing the buck' to the Legislative Council. Flexibility has

to be provided at this stage because it is not known yet exactly

how many and what pieces of legislation may be affected by the

Bill of Rights and, more importantly, how long it will take for

necessary amendments to be made to bring them into line with the

Bill of Rights. The whole purpose of having a blanket freeze of

one year in the first instance is to identify the laws which may

have to be put on the schedule for consideration during the

selective freeze. The selective freeze will be for a specified

period, which cannot be changed once decided. It will not be for

an indefinite period. As with all Hong Kong laws, any amendments

have to be introduced into the Legislative Council (which is the

law making body of Hong Kong) for approval. The Administration

will work with Legislative Councillors to decide on the period

required to complete the process, taking into account the

availability of resources and the legislative time-table.

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