XN000022-1972-11-29 — Page 13

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Wednesday, November 29, 1972

SUPPORT FOR COMPANIES BILL

Unofficial members of the Legislative Council today supported the

government's first piece of legislation aimed at protecting investors.

The bill presently before the Council, the Companies (Amendment)

Bill 1972, deals mainly with company prospectuses.

The senior Unofficial, the Hon. P.C. Woo said he was getting in

touch with the Commissioner for Chinese Language with a view to standardising

the translation of company prospectuses.

He pointed out that there had been some objections in respect of the

provision in Clause 5 requiring every prospectus to contain a Chinese

translation.

The objectors argued that there could be such difficulties as

the availability of a sufficient number of competent translators, accuracy

of the translation, and the legal liability of directors in respect of

untrue statements in the translation which a director could not himself read

or understand.

Mr. Woo said these difficulties had been exaggerated and he told the

Council that recently several public companies had had their prospectuses

translated into Chinese.

He also suggested that if the bill was passed, the effective date for

this requirement should not be earlier than next February because of the

additional time and labour needed in preparing a translation.

Mr. Woo