The Legal System 1 35
views. To facilitate its work, the council has set up various working parties and interest groups to study and recommend to the council on ways and means to improve legal aid services. During the year, aside from the Administration's regular reviews on legal aid matters, such as annual review on financial eligibility limits of legal aid applicants, the council has deliberated and offered its views on various other issues, such as the scope of legal aid and the criteria for assessing financial eligibility limits. The council also operates an assistance scheme under which a legal aid applicant seeking to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal may apply for a counsel certificate for a review of the Director of Legal Aid's refusal to grant legal aid on the grounds of merit.
The Official Solicitor
The Director of Legal Aid was appointed the Official Solicitor under the Official Solicitor Ordinance.
The Official Solicitor's main duties are to act as guardian ad litem or next friend in legal proceedings for persons under a disability of age or who are mentally incapacitated, as representative of deceased persons' estates for the purpose of legal proceedings, as Official Trustee and Judicial Trustee, and to act as committee of the estate of mentally incapacitated persons. The Official Solicitor's caseload for 2006-2007 was 437, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous financial year.
Director of Intellectual Property
This statutory office was established in 1990 under the Director of Intellectual Property (Establishment) Ordinance. The Intellectual Property Department operates the Trade Marks, Patents, Designs and Copyright Licensing Bodies Registries. It is also responsible for making recommendations on policy and legislation related to intellectual property protection, providing civil intellectual property legal advice to the Government and promoting public awareness of and respect for intellectual property rights.
Rights of the Individual
Legal protections
Chapter III of the Basic Law prescribes the fundamental rights and freedoms of people in Hong Kong. In particular, Article 39 (which forms part of Chapter III) provides that the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force. Additionally, the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance gives domestic effect to the provisions of the ICCPR as applied to Hong Kong.
Other statutory protections, overseen by the Equal Opportunities Commission, are contained in the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, the Disability Discrimination Ordinance, and the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance. Additionally, the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance administered by the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data
protects the right to privacy with respect to personal data.