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Fourthly, some Members proposed deleting Clause 14 of the Bill, which provides for the prohibition of unauthorised disclosure of information. They considered that the criminalization of disclosure of information was unnecessary. Clause 14 is modelled on a similar provision in UK legislation and its purpose is to protect applicants for legal aid and aided persons from unauthorised disclosure of information. However, we appreciate Members' concern, and I will move an amendment to restrict the scope of Clause 14 and to provide that a prosecution for an offence under this clause will not be brought without the written consent of the Attorney General. But we do not agree that Clause 14 should be deleted, as Mrs Lau will propose at the Committee Stage. The privacy of applicants for legal aid and aided persons needs to be adequately protected.
Some Members also suggested that the Administration should appoint as lay members of the Council a Member of this Council, persons from human rights organisations, social services and welfare organisations and the academic community. I can assure Members that we will give careful consideration to appointing persons from these groups as lay members when the Council is established.
Mr President, with these remarks, and subject to the Committee Stage Amendments proposed by the Administration, I commend the Legal Aid Services Council (No. 2) Bill to Honourable Members.
End
Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No 3) Bill 1995
Following is the speech by the acting Secretary for the Treasury, Mr Alan Lai, at the resumption of second reading debate on the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No 3) Bill 1995 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
Firstly, I would like to thank the several members for their speeches, Dr the Honourable Huang Chen-ya and the Bills Committee for their thorough and detailed discussions with the Administration on the Bill. I am very grateful for the support the Bills Committee has given to the Bill. The main purpose of the Bill is to enable us to tax the income of Hong Kong airlines which is earned from air traffic involving an agreement country. This Bill will allow us to bring into force double taxation relief articles in Air Services Agreements. Under the Agreements, we will have the right to tax the income from international traffic of Hong Kong airlines derived from an agreement country if such income has been granted full tax relief by that country. At the same time, we will give up the right to tax the income of airlines of the agreement country derived from Hong Kong if such income is subject to tax in that country,