XN000022-1995-11-14 — Page 2

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Bill of Rights Ordinance not supreme to other laws

In response to press enquiries, a government spokesman said today (Tuesday):

"At present, the only law which is supreme to the laws of Hong Kong is the Letters Patent. After 1997, the Basic Law will be supreme.

"As we have stated previously, the substantive rights protected by the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) are entrenched by the Letters Patent now and the Basic Law after 1997 and are incorporated into the laws of Hong Kong through the provisions of the Bill of Rights Ordinance (BORO).

"The statement in the report to the Human Rights Committee that the BOR Ordinance 'overrides' any existing law that cannot be construed consistently with it, is simply a reference to the repealing effect of the Ordinance on pre-existing legislation, that is, laws which were in force prior to the enactment of the BORO in 1991.

"That reflects the common law principle that where two pieces of legislation are inconsistent, the later one repeals the inconsistencies in the earlier one.

"When the Government says that the BORO is 'not supreme' it means that it does not have a status superior to that of other Ordinances. It can be amended or repealed in the same way as any other Ordinance."

End/Tuesday, November 14, 1995

Task of Buildings Department's Site Monitoring Team

In response to some press comments about the Buildings Department Site Monitoring Team, the Director of Buildings, Mrs Helen Yu, emphasised today (Tuesday) that the task of the team was to monitor, not take over, the performance of building professionals and contractors on active sites.

"It is not for our Site Monitoring Team to take over the duties of professionals and contractors responsible for a project. Our aim is to deter dangerous operations and to make for better safety assurance, both on site and in interface with the public," she said.