XN000022-1996-12-24 — Page 3

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This will mean that in future these inflation adjustments can be made by subsidiary legislation rather than primary legislation, the spokesman said.

The draft Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources and Contributions) (Amendment) Regulation 1996 which sets out the new contribution rates payable by aided persons under the Standard Legal Aid Scheme, has been approved in principle by the Executive Council. It will be referred back to the Council for final approval after the Legal Aid (Amendment) Bill 1996 has passed into law.

The Bar Association, the Law Society and the Legal Aid Services Council have been consulted on the draft Bill and Regulation.

End

Views on revised draft of Telecom Bill sought

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) issued today (Tuesday) a revised draft of the Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill and invites further views from the telecommunications industry and interested parties before finalizing the Bill for introduction into the Legislative Council in the first half of 1997.

"On August 12, 1996, we issued a consultation paper inviting comments from a draft of the the telecommunications industry and interested parties on Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill before its introduction into the Legislative Council," a spokesman for OFTA said.

"In response to this consultation paper, we received 23 submissions. We have considered these submissions in detail and a revised draft of the Bill has now been prepared taking into consideration the comments in the submissions as appropriate.

"We believe that the draft Bill is now improved as a result of the consultation exercise. We would now like to take the opportunity to invite further comments, if any, on the revised draft before introducing the Bill into the Legislative Council," the spokesman said.