XN000022-1996-07-10 — Page 25

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This Bill has three purposes. The first purpose is to empower the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints to investigate those administrative actions taken by or on behalf of the Police, the ICAC, and the Secretariats of the Independent Police Complaints Council and the Public Service Commission in relation to the Code on Access to Information. The second purpose is to enhance the operation of COMAC, and the third is to change COMAC's English title to "The Ombudsman".

Code on Access to Information

We have stated publicly that we will extend the Code on Access to Information throughout the Government by the end of this year. Under his existing statutory powers, COMAC may investigate whether a branch or department listed in Schedule 1 to the Ordinance has failed to apply the Code properly. However, Schedule 1 does not include the Police, the ICAC, or the two Secretariats of the Independent Police Complaints Council and the Public Service Commission, which are thus outside COMAC's jurisdiction.

While we do not propose that COMAC be given general jurisdiction to investigate complaints of maladministration on the part of these four departments, we consider that it would be more efficient for the operation of the Code, and less confusing to members of the public, to have a single independent review body under the Code. We therefore propose that the COMAC Ordinance be amended so that COMAC may investigate complaints of non-compliance with the Code against these four agencies, i.e. the Police, the ICAC, and the two Secretariats of the Independent Police Complaints Council and the Public Service Commission.

Amendment to Schedule 2

When the Police and the ICAC are brought within COMAC's jurisdiction for the purpose of the Code, we need to ensure the security of sensitive materials relating to the prevention, detection or investigation of crime. We therefore propose to amend Schedule 2 to the Ordinance to make it clear that COMAC is not to investigate any action taken in relation to the prevention, detection or investigation of any crime or offence.

Secrecy Provision

Section 15 of the COMAC Ordinance requires COMAC and his staff to maintain secrecy in respect of all matters that come to their knowledge in the exercise of their functions. This is unnecessarily wide. The Bill seeks to make it clear that the provision only covers matters arising from any investigation or complaint made to COMAC or his staff in the exercise of their complaint-handling functions, and that COMAC and his staff may disclose information that is necessary to be disclosed for the purpose of investigating a complaint, or deciding on whether an investigation should be undertaken, continued or discontinued.