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To prevent the selling and distribution of indecent articles which have contravened the legal requirements, clause 7 will make it an offence to possess such articles for the purpose of publication. The presumption clause in the Ordinance will apply to this new offence. If a person possesses more than two copies of such indecent article and the circumstances give rise to such suspicion, he will be deemed to possess it for the purpose of publication.
Clause 10 proposes to grant Police officers the power to seize, in public places, Mr any indecent article which commits or constitutes evidence of an offence. President, I wish to illustrate with an example how the new offence and the new seizing power will aid enforcement action. At present, as long as an indecent article is not published, no offence is committed even if the article in question does not carry a warning notice or contravene any other legal requirement. The new offence will help to eliminate this undesirable situation. No matter whether the indecent article is published or not, an offence is committed so long as two copies of the indecent article are found and the circumstances give rise to reasonable suspicion that these copies are possessed for the purpose of publication. The new power of seizure will further enable Police officers to seize the articles as evidence for prosecution.
There is a strongly-held and widely expressed desire in the community for heavier penalties to be imposed on persons publishing indecent articles in breach of legal requirements. In response to this, we recommend that the maximum fine for offences related to indecent articles be increased from $200,000 to $400,000 on first conviction and $800,000 on second or subsequent convictions. A higher maximum fine for subsequent convictions is proposed in order to increase the deterrent effect.
Mr President, in drawing up these new restrictions on the publication of indecent articles, we have tried our best to introduce measures that are the minimum necessary for the protection of our young people while allowing adults to exercise freedom of choice. We are confident that these legislative proposals are consistent with Article 16 of the Bill of Rights Ordinance and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. I very much hope that these well-balanced proposals will gain Members' support.
Mr President, I beg to move.
End/Wednesday, February 22, 1995