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Equal status of Chinese and English under language law
Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Man-kwong and a written reply by the acting Chief Secretary, the Hon Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Regarding section 3(2) of the Official Languages Ordinance which stipulates that both English and Chinese possess equal status and enjoy equality of use, will the Government inform this Council:
(a)
(b)
of the number of ordinances requiring that documents should be set out or submitted to the authorities concerned in English, together with the titles and summaries of the contents of such ordinances, excluding those ordinances listed in the Chief Secretary's reply to a question regarding the measures to implement the provisions in section 3(2) of the Official Languages Ordinance at the Council sitting on 16 November 1994, and
whether a schedule will be drawn up for all the ordinances stated in (a) above to be amended in stages before 1 July 1997, so that their provisions will accord with the spirit of section 3(2) of the Official Languages Ordinance; if so, what the details are; if not, why not; and whether the Government has considered the effect of non- compliance with Article 9 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in respect of those ordinances which have not been amended?
Answer:
Mr President,
(a)
The Ordinances listed in the Chief Secretary's reply on 16 November 1994 related to documents which were required to be submitted in English only. There are also a number of Ordinances which require documents to be set out or submitted to the authorities concerned in English as well as Chinese. These are listed in the Annex.