TNAG-1106-FCO40-1356-Narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 16

Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH

UNCLASSIFIED

Telephone 01- 233 3184

Sir Jack Cater KBE

Chief Secretary HONG KONG

MEIC 385/1

Your reference

BU

File

Gweeks C.9.E/ 17/9

NID 1/2 II (TC 17/77)

Our reference

HHK 385/1

. 51

1 7 SEP1981

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

NO

PA

faction Taxēj

CGE

28/10

140 26/10

D

STRY1

Date

September 1981

па

1819

Dear Juck,

THE DANGEROUS DRUGS (AMENDMENT) ORDINANCE 1981

1.

4

See

ง

Hong Kong despatch NDD 1/2 II (TC 17/77) of 19 August submitted this Ordinance for approval. There is no objection to the proposal and the power of disallowance will not be used. However, our Legal Counsellor has asked me to draw your attention to a possible difficulty:

N

2.

By Section 49D(1) 'any person who discloses any record of confidential information

..commits an offence, Section 49A includes amongst the definitions of confidential information information which is recorded by the Registry which relates to the conviction of a person for an offence under the Ordinance. Information relating to convictions will, presumably, be held by other departments or agencies of the Government of Hong Kong as well as by the Registry and there is a danger that such information which may be disclosed from other sources could render a person liable to prosecution because it is also recorded in the Registry.

Section 49H is some safeguard against persons being prosecuted under this part because they have disclosed such information. However, it might be worth considering, when the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is next amended, whether there is not a need to include in Section 49A some provision excluding from the definition 'confidential information' information relating to a conviction which is public knowledge, in the sense that it has appeared in the press or it is maintained on, eg police records, which it may be proper to disclose to a court or more widely.

I should be grateful for your views on this in due course.

cc Legal Advisers FCO

Dict

RD Clift

Hong Kong and General Department