XN000022-1996-01-24 — Page 41

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The Judiciary is committed to put in place a framework which enables Chinese, along with English, to be used in all judicial proceedings in Hong Kong before 1 July 1997. To meet this target, a Steering Committee on the Use of Chinese in Courts, appointed by the Chief Justice and chaired by Mr Justice Patrick Chan, recommended a phased implementation strategy enabling the use of Chinese first in the District Court, to be followed by the High Court and then the Court of Appeal.

We now propose that the criminal proceedings of the District Court should be allowed to be conducted in Chinese. As a result, it will be necessary to put in place rules to cover appeals from these cases.

We propose to change the present use of language in District Court criminal appeal proceedings. The proposed change will enable the parties to file their documentation in either Chinese or English. It also enables the parties, the lawyers or the judge to use Chinese at the hearing when it is appropriate to do so. The aim is to provide for a just and expeditious disposal of the proceedings. There is a built-in procedure whereby a party who does not understand a court document which is served on him can request for a translation of the document.

The Criminal Appeal (Amendment) Rules 1995 made by the Chief Justice, under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance and the Official Languages Ordinance, will upon commencement provide for the use of both of the official languages in criminal appeal proceedings taken under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance. The rights of the various parties set out in the Rules reflect the provisions of the Official Languages Ordinance and amplify those rights, where necessary, to reflect the effect of having to use particular languages in particular circumstances. The court will consider which official language will expeditiously dispose of the proceedings justly in making its decision as to which language it will use and its decision will be final.

Pursuant to Section 9 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance, the Rules require the approval of this Council by resolution.

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The provisions concerning the use of language in these Rules are applicable to three other sets of Rules for the District Court, namely the Criminal Procedure (Appeal Against Discharge) (Amendment) Rules 1995; the Criminal Procedure (Applications Under Section 16) (Amendment) Rules 1995 and the Criminal Procedure (Reference of Questions of Law) (Amendment) Rules 1995. They will each be the subject of a separate resolution.

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Mr President, I beg to move.