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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
To achieve better co-ordination of work and operational efficiency, the Public Records Office and the bulk of its archival holding was moved to Tuen Mun in July 1995, to be housed under the same roof as the Records Management Office. Plans are in hand to construct a permanent archives building in Kwun Tong, Kowloon. The new building will be built and fitted out to the latest international standard required for the permanent preservation of various types of records, and is expected to be completed by mid-1997.
Language
The official languages of Hong Kong are English and Chinese. The Official Languages Ordinance, enacted in 1974, provides that both languages possess equal status and enjoy equality of use for the purposes of communication between the government or any public officer and members of the public. Correspondence from the public in Chinese is replied to by government departments in Chinese.
Major reports and publications of public interest issued by the government are available in both languages. Simultaneous interpretation is provided at meetings of the Legislative Council, Urban Council, Regional Council and other government boards and committees where English and Chinese are used.
A Bilingual Laws Advisory Committee was set up in October 1988 to advise the Governor in Council on, among other things, the authentication of Chinese texts of existing laws which are being translated. Since July 1992, the Chinese texts of 190 -ordinances have been declared to be authentic. All new principal legislation enacted
since April 1989 is in English and Chinese.
With the greater openness and accountability of the government and to prepare for the transition of Hong Kong to become a Special Administrative Region of China, the government is promoting a wider and more proficient use of Chinese in the civil service. The government's ultimate objective is to develop a civil service which is biliterate (in Chinese and English) and trilingual (in Cantonese, Putonghua and English).
A working group chaired by the Secretary for the Civil Service was asked to develop a strategy for achieving this objective. It reported in September and its recommendations are being implemented. One of these is to upgrade the office of the Commissioner for Chinese Language to become the Commissioner for Official Languages with enhanced responsibilities for the two official languages. A second is to spend more than $130 million to provide hardware, software and training so all civil servants who need it can have access to Chinese word-processing.