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On provisional legislature, Mr Fung pointed out that the current Legislative Council was fairly and openly elected through arrangements that were consistent with the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.
"We do not accept that there is any need for provisional legislature," he said.
On the future reporting arrangements. Mr Fung said the issue continued to be a source of great anxiety for the people of Hong Kong who had come to regard these reports as benchmarks against which to measure progress in the implementation of human right safeguards in Hong Kong.
End
Qualifications and rules for extended audience rights
Solicitors will have to be qualified under regulations to be made by the Chief Justice, after consultation with the Hong Kong Law Society, Bar Association and the Attorney General, if they wish to obtain extended rights of audience in the higher
courts.
They will also have to observe rules of conduct to be made by the Law Society. subject to the prior approval of the Chief Justice, and after consultation with the Bar Association and the Attorney General.
These requirements will be set down in draft legislation to be added to the Legal Services Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 1996 at its Committee Stage.
The Bill proposes to implement legal services reforms that arise out of the Consultation Paper on Legal Services published in March last year.
A government spokesman said today (Wednesday) that the Administration conducted extensive research into the state of the Bar in other Commonwealth jurisdictions where solicitors have full rights of audience, and commissioned a professional public opinion survey on the issue, before arriving at the decision to extend solicitor's rights of audience.
In each of the jurisdictions in Ireland, Scotland and England, the legal profession is divided into barristers and solicitors, but in recent years solicitors have been granted, or been permitted to acquire, extended rights of audience.
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Private notes are available after approval.