XN000022-1996-12-18 — Page 17

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To ensure consistency of the Chinese and English versions of the Code of Practice on Employment under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (G.N. 5204) which was introduced into this Council on 20 November 1996, I propose a textual amendment to the gazetted English version of the Code and a total of 17 textual amendments to the Chinese version as specified in my resolution.

Mr President, I beg to move.

End

COMAC (Amendment) Bill 1996 (resumed debate)

Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, at the resumed debate of the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints (Amendment) Bill 1996 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Mr President, I would like to thank the Honourable Mrs Selina Chow, the Chairman of the Bills Committee, and the other members of the Bills Committee for their hard work and efficiency in examining this Bill. In a relatively short space of time they have looked carefully at all aspects of the Bill.

In the light of concerns expressed by members on the particular aspect of the Bill, I shall move amendments during the committee stage.

The Bill seeks to empower COMAC to investigate complaints and non- compliance with the Code on Access to Information, against the Police, the ICAC and the Secretariats of the Independent Police Complaints Council and the Public Service Commission. To improve COMAC's working procedures and to change COMAC's English title to "The Ombudsman".

The Administration has stated publicly that the Code on Access to Information, the Code, will be extended throughout the Government by the end of this year. We are committed to this undertaking. The Code will be extended to the last of the 90 government departments and branches later this month. For the more efficient operation of the Code we consider it preferable to have a single independent review body for all agencies included under the Code. The Bill therefore seeks to amend the COMAC Ordinance to enable COMAC to investigate complaints and non-compliance with the Code against the four agencies, i.e. the Police, the ICAC and the Secretariats of the Independent Police Complaints Council and the Public Service Commission, which are at present not subject to COMAC's jurisdiction.