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The District Court and the Equal Opportunities Commission will play important complementary roles in enforcing the provisions of the Bill. The Equal Opportunities Commission is to be set up under the Sex Discrimination Bill which was introduced into this Council on 26 October last year. Members will know something of the power of the proposed Commission as set out in that Bill. But it is worth repeating the main points. The Commission will receive and investigate complaints of discrimination. We envisage most cases being settled through conciliation. Where this fails, complainants will be able to take their cases to the District Court.
The Equal Opportunities Commission will issue Codes of Practice for each sector so that all parties involved will have practical guidelines to follow regarding how they are expected to behave. The Commission will, of course, consult groups representing people with a disability and the sector concerned in drafting these codes. The Codes will be laid before this Council before coming into effect. When considering a case under this law, the court will have to take into account any relevant provisions in the Codes when making its judgment. These Codes of Practice will provide practical guidelines to help the different sectors in the community to comply with the Bill. Since employment is a major and complex area which we need to get right, we propose, in line with the Sex Discrimination Bill, that the employment provisions in the Bill should not come into effect until the relevant Code of Practice has been issued. The Bill also provides that, for five years, employers with fewer than five employees will be exempted. This is another example of how we are trying to achieve a balanced approach.
Disability discrimination legislation is a relatively new approach the world over. In Hong Kong, we continue to believe that the best way to achieve our goals for people with a disability is for the Government, for disability groups and those who may be affected by the Bill to work together to make it work. And it will work best, if everyone aims to improve life for people with a disability progressively, over time and with reasonable requests being met by reasonable responses. We want to see the law and public education complementing each other. We want to see them bringing about conciliation not confrontation, co-operation not conflict. I hope I can count on Members of this Chamber to support what we are aiming to achieve by introducing this Bill.
Mr President, I move that the debate on the motion be now adjourned.
End/Wednesday, May 3, 1995