"At present, official secrets in Hong Kong are governed by the UK Official Secrets Acts as applied to Hong Kong. These Acts will lapse after June 30, 1997.
"Hong Kong, as with any territory, will continue to need legislation to protect official information from July 1. We need local laws to replace the UK Acts," the spokesman explained.
"The Bill modifies some aspects of the Acts to reflect local circumstances. For example, it removes a number of provisions in the Acts which are duplicated in other Hong Kong legislation," he said.
"The Bill includes a safeguard in the provision requiring a person to give information to the Police to ensure that the information cannot be used against the person in criminal proceedings," he added.
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NT Land Exchange Entitlements (Redemption) Ordinance
The Government intends to make land exchange entitlements, commonly known as Letters A/B, redeemable for cash only rather than land from a date to be announced in the near future.
A government spokesman said the New Territories Land Exchange Entitlements (Redemption) Ordinance gazetted today (Friday) sought to extinguish all other rights against the Government in respect of a land exchange entitlement.
The rates for redemption money payable to holders of the entitlements under the Ordinance are also gazetted.
After the Ordinance comes into operation, an owner of a land exchange entitlement may lodge his/her claim for payment of redemption money with the Director of Lands.
The spokesman said that the entitlements would not become valueless after the enactment of the Ordinance.
"They can be redeemed for cash which will bear interest from the commencement date of the ordinance to the date of payment.
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