there were no good legal grounds to defer the application of articles relating to the freedom to seek, receive and impart information (Article 16) and non-discrimination (Article 22). We believed that the freedom to seek, receive and impart information should not give rise to successful claims that personal data held by commercial concerns Hust be disclosed to individuals. We also took the view that Article 22 of the Bill of Rights, if it was interpreted in a manner which was consistent with decisions already made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, would be limited to the content of and would not itself make discrimination in the private sector unlawful;
law,
to exclude or defer imposition of obligations in respect of the Bill of Rights would undermine our argument vis-a-vis the Chinese on the need for the Bill to fulfill by one instrument all International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights obligations as applied to Hong Kong; and
we regarded the right to privacy (Article 14) as an exception and accepted that it should primarily be provided for by way of detailed legislation which would more precisely define the content of the right and thus provide for greater certainty in commercial conduct. Particularly because the Law Reform Commission was already well-advanced with its comprehensive study of the subject, we agreed that Article 14 should
be binding on private persons for the time being.
PHGE ØY
Lester's Opinions
15
The commercial
and banking sector remains very concerned about the application of the Bill of Rights to the private sector and their concern is supported by an Opinion dated 12 September 1990 given to the Hong Kong Bank by Mr Anthony LESTER, Q.C., prominent human rights practitioner. Copies of this Opinion and of two further Opinions by Mr Lester, dated 4th and 20th February 1991, are available for Members' reference in the councils Division Annexe.
MY Lester's main arguments against the provision of inter-citizen rights in Clause 7 of the BOR are that
(a)
it 13 not necessary in order to give effect to the international obligations imposed upon HMG under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
CONFIDENTIAL