132 868 5069
F.04
local terms, but if they had been employed on overseas
in the first instance contract terms, they could not subsequently change to local terms. officers on overseas terms who had been resident in Hong Kong for a number of years and had made Hong Kong their
The Hong Kong home considered that this policy was unfair.
Government agreed that a policy which allowed persons to join the civil service on local terms, but which, prevented them
op
from acquiring a status subsequenment was unne Higid given the concept of permanent resident contained in the
ndeed the roportion of
verseas
fficers in
Lirectorate
ranks has Lecreased to ess than
Immigration Ordinance as well as in the Basic Law. examination also showed that the policy could not be successfully defended in court.
interim measure,
Close
This change to the localisation policy is of very little praetical significence and does not in any way indicate any lack of determination on the part of the Hong Kong Government to implemeny fully the localisation policy. The process by which officers on overseas contract terms may transfer to
Those concerned will local terms is by no means automatic. have to demonstrate their commitment to Hong Kong by acquiring permanent residence status and be prepared to give up "perks", The Hong Kong 35% compared such as better leave and passage arrangements.
any we Government is offering only one contract to eden, individual and a very small number of officers are involved. week, only (...) applications had been received and these were J received-and-these-were t virtually all from officers in the specialist, grades. Hence the practical significance should not be
ice should not be exaggerated.
with about 55% a tecade ago.
Ag of last
The reason the Hong Kong Government did not engage in any formal consultations before making this change is because it would have necessitated a moratorium on the localisation policy if a court case was to be avoided.
A moratorium would
have been extremely damaging and would have led to uncertainty. The Hong Kong Government were not prepared to accept this.
Also, the issue had been in the public domain for some months, and had been discussed on more than one
The practical effect on local officers' promotion prospects would have been far worse.
SLM