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It was considered that about half of these should continue to apply to Hong Kong after June 30, 1997 and the plan was to achieve this through about 32 localisation ordinances, he said.
He was glad that significant progress had been made. So far, 15 localisation ordinances have been enacted, and six other Bills are scheduled for introduction into the Legislative Council soon. Currently about 10 localisation items are yet to be agreed with the Chinese side.
"We hope we can obtain JLG agreement soon, in time for us to introduce the localising bills before the end of this year.
"Enactment of the bills will depend thereafter on the normal legislative process. I am therefor reasonably confident that the localisation of laws programme will be completed before July 1, 1997," he said.
On the subject of adaptation of laws, for compatibility with the Basic Law, Mr Mathews noted that most adaptation amendments only involved straightforward changes to nomenclature.
There were
were other aspects which involved more complicated policy considerations, such as the implementation of the provisions in Article 24 of the Basic Law relating to the right of abode but this type of more complicated adaptation was the exception rather than the rule, he said.
Proposals for the adaptation of nearly 300 ordinances have been handed over to he Chinese side in more than 60 papers. The aim is to hand over proposals for the remaining ordinances this year.
"As most of these are uncontroversial, it should not be difficult for agreement to be reached on the substance of these proposals," Mr Mathews said.
He also said the use of "midnight legislation" for the adaptation? that is to say the adapted legislation should enter into force at the last moment of June 30, 1997 ? had been proposed to the Chinese side. "We believe that this is the best solution, as it will remove any doubt as to what the laws will be on July 1, 1997, leaving no gaps or any shred of legal uncertainty," he said.