XN000022-1997-01-15 — Page 2

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Airport Committee to meet tomorrow

A meeting of the Airport Committee of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group will take place in Hong Kong tomorrow (Thursday, January 16) on the comprehensive review of progress in the 10 Airport Core Programme projects that took place in the second half of 1996.

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Cut-off date set for appeals to Privy Council

The Registrar of the Privy Council has set March 1, 1997 as the guiding cut-off date after which the Privy Council would be unlikely to be able to dispose of new business from Hong Kong before July 1, 1997.

The date is for guidance only and is not a guarantee that a case submitted before that date will be finally disposed of before July 1, 1997.

"It should assist appellants and their lawyers in deciding whether to lodge their appeals to the Privy Council after March 1, 1997," a Government spokesman said today (Wednesday).

The Joint Declaration and the Basic Law provide that a Court of Final Appeal (CFA) will be set up to replace the Privy Council as Hong Kong's highest appellate

court.

On June 9, 1995, the British and Chinese Senior Representatives to the Joint Liaison Group signed an agreement on the establishment of the CFA on July 1, 1997 and the Hong Kong CFA Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council on July 26, 1995.

Under the Ordinance, any appeal in respect of which the Privy Council or the Court of Appeal has granted conditional, final or special leave to appeal to the Privy Council and the appeal has not been finally disposed of on or before June 30, 1997 shall proceed in the Court of Final Appeal.

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