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"However, regarding the recommendation to defer the implementation of sections 30 (on matching procedures) and 33 (on transfer of personal data to places outside Hong Kong), we appreciate that data users would require sufficient time to prepare for compliance with these two particular sections.
"We are studying the recommendation carefully and will make a firm decision within this month," he added.
End
Law reform on offence of fraud gazetted
A proposal by the Law Reform Commission (LRC) in July this year to remove existing deficiencies in the law on the offence of fraud has been accepted by the Administration and is now put forward in a Fraud Bill 1996 published in the Government Gazette today (Friday).
The proposal is for the creation of a substantive offence of fraud, and abolition of the offence at common law of conspiracy to defraud.
A government spokesman explained that at present, Hong Kong does not have a general offence of fraud. Instead, fraudulent conduct is dealt with under various laws, both statutory and at common law under the conspiracy charge.
Among the defects of the law identified by the LRC are:
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the offence extends to conduct which would not amount to an offence if committed by a single individual;
it is arguably artificial to charge parties with an agreement to commit a crime where the fact of an agreement is often inferred from the fact that the crime has been committed;
the breadth of the offence is so wide that its boundaries may go beyond the limitations of a fraud-related offence in the Theft Ordinance and may cover conduct which arguably ought not to be criminal at all;