was deferred in order to allow more time for the public to give their views. The amended Bill completed its Committee Stage and Third Reading with the unanimous support of members of the Legislative Council on 26 June. There was thus once again full opportunity for public debate on the provisions of the Bill, and the fact that it was substantially amended during the passage through the Council supports the view that these comments were taken very much into account. It is significant that Council support for the amended Bill was unanimous: your correspondent will doubtless be aware that the Council includes two Queen's Counsel and two other members of the legal profession.
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Your correspondent mentions the Hong Kong Government's proposals to introduce an "electronic road pricing scheme" No final decision has been taken on the introduction of the scheme: at present only a pilot project to test the scheme is being carried out. Meanwhile the Government have kept all Hong Kong's local government District Boards fully informed of progress with the scheme, and have collectively sought the views of each board separately upon the project. No decision on whether or not to proceed with the scheme will be taken by the Hong Kong Government until it has had time to evaluate the results of the pilot project and the process of consultation with the territory's 19 District Boards. I should perhaps add that any scheme to increase taxation anywhere is likely to be controversial: but taxes in general in Hong Kong are very low.
Finally, your correspondent refers to the "control of the judiciary". I am not certain what he means by this reference. The judiciary in Hong Kong are not subject to Government control. Section III of Annex I to the Agreement on the Future of Hong Kong contains detailed provisions to ensure that the independence of the Hong Kong judiciary is preserved when Hong Kong becomes a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China on 1 July
1997.
I hope that you will find these observations helpful. I am returning the enclosure to your letter, a copy of which has been retained for our files.
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