PUBLIC ORDER
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The department launched a programme to promote business ethics in 1994. Since then, some 70 per cent of the 2600 listed companies, large private firms and trade/professional associations approached have formulated a code of conduct. To extend the programme from management to the working level, the department conducted 1 500 talks for 600 business organisations in 1997. In addition, three new ethics training videos were produced for front-line workers of different trades.
Young people have always been one of the priority targets in the department's preventive education work. Apart from regularly conducting anti-corruption talks for 85 000 secondary and tertiary school leavers, the department also joined other organisations to promulgate work ethics among young people at work.
To help educate new immigrants from the Mainland, a new video on Hong Kong's anti-corruption work was produced. A pocket-size telephone book with ICAC messages was distributed to every immigrant at the Lo Wu immigration control point. In addition, educational programmes including talks and visits to ICAC regional offices were organised for them.
During the year, the department started publishing a newsletter for members of the public. It contains information about the ICAC. It also organised district events and meet-the-public sessions, and produced radio programmes.
Co-operation with anti-corruption agencies in the Mainland continued. During the year, talks were given to 3 000 Mainland officials visiting Hong Kong. In November, the Commissioner led a delegation to visit the procuratorates in Beijing and Guangzhou.
International Co-operation
The ICAC continues to enhance liaison with other anti-corruption organisations and overseas law enforcement agencies. During the year, the ICAC received 118 visitors from law enforcement agencies and other organisations in various countries.
ICAC officers also attended overseas forums, including the Eighth International Anti-Corruption Conference in Peru. Directorate officers regularly meet the legal attaches of major overseas law enforcement agencies stationed in Hong Kong to discuss matters of mutual interest.
In November, the ICAC hosted the Fifth Regional Seminar on Corruption-Related Crime attended by representatives of local law enforcement agencies and those in the Pacific Rim region. The ICAC now produces a quarterly newsletter on matters of mutual interest for anti-corruption agencies in the region.
Cross-Boundary Liaison
Since the establishment of a mutual assistance scheme with the Mainland in 1988, the Operations Department has sent officers to the Mainland on 94 occasions, and assisted investigating officers from the Mainland in enquiries in Hong Kong on 105 occasions. In 1997, a dedicated Hong Kong-Mainland Operational Liaison Section was set up to co-ordinate increasing co-operative efforts with the Mainland authorities to combat cross-boundary corruption. On the non-operational front, the Hong Kong Mainland Liaison Office, which was set up in the Community Relations Department in 1996, continued to work closely with the Guangdong Provincial People's Procuratorate on publicity and educational programmes.