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Mrs Lau explained that the existing Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (COIAO) already applied to electronic publications. No legislative amendments to COIAO will be considered for the time being but a review will be conducted one year after the introduction of a Code of Practice in order to assess its effectiveness, she added.
The Government will brief the ISPS of these decisions and will work with them to achieve the objectives.
End
New licence to facilitate media coverage of handover
The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) announced today (Thursday) that the Governor in Council has approved the creation of a new type of licence - Self-Provided External Telecommunication System (Short Term) Licence - under the Telecommunication Ordinance.
The new licence is designed to facilitate the short-term use of telecommunications equipment to communicate with places outside Hong Kong. An immediate use of the licence is in connection with news reporting of the sovereignty handover ceremony and associated events.
"Foreign broadcasters and news agencies wishing to use satellite news gathering equipment for reporting the sovereignty handover ceremony and associated events should apply for a self-provided external telecommunication system (short- term) licence," said a spokesman for OFTA.
A large number of foreign broadcasters and news agencies are expected to come to Hong Kong to report the sovereignty handover events. They will wish to send their live or recorded signals back to their studios or head offices for immediate broadcast to their audience or for compilation of news reports.
Some will use the transmission services of Hong Kong Telecom International Limited, but others will wish to bring in their satellite communications equipment to transmit their signals back to their own countries directly.