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Judgement on AECS's appeal against localisation
The Court of Appeal handed down this morning (Friday) the judgment on the appeal by the Association of Expatriate Civil Servants (AECS) and the cross appeal by the Government against some of the decisions in the judgment made by the High Court in October 1995 on the Government's localisation policy.
The judgment concerns 13 matters under appeal by AECS and two matters under cross appeal by the Government.
Commenting on the judgement, the Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service, Ms Sandra Lee said the Government would need some time to consider the implications of the judgment.
"The decisions under challenge were measures taken by the Government to implement its localisation policy. These measures were taken after very careful consideration, taking into account the interests of different groups of officers," she
said.
The Cour of Appeal has upheld the Opening Up Arrangements currently in place for renew. of agreements and transfer of overseas agreement officers who are permanent residents to locally modelled conditions of service.
"The main thrust of the current localisation policy has remained intact. While ruling seven Government decisions as unlawful, the Court of Appeal has acknowledged that the Government acted in good faith throughout." said Ms Lee.
"We need to study the details of the judgment of the Court of Appeal very carefully and discuss its implications with our legal adviser before formulating and proposing the next course of action."
"There is no suggestion that localisation is in itself unlawful," said Ms Lee quoting the judgment. "We remain committed to the localisation policy of the civil service. As we have done before, we will carefully consider the interest of different groups of officers in proposing any course of action."
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