CONFIDENTIAL
19.
At present judges may only be removed from office on the
recommendation of a tribunal of other judges and after compliance
with legal procedures. In accordance with Section 111 of Annex 1 of
the Joint Declaration, after 1997 judges will be afforded similar protection in that they can only be removed from office by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region acting in
accordance with the recommendation of a tribunal appointed by the
Chief Judge. The Hong Kong Government considers that this
protection should also be extended to magistrates and other members
of the judiciary since they also perform judicial functions. Το
this end it therefore plans that members of the judiciary other than
judges should only be removed from office on the recommendation of a
tribunal appointed by the Chief Justice from among other members of
the judiciary.
(C) PENSION ARRANGEMENTS
20.
The
Most members of the judiciary are over 40 at the time of
their appointment. As a result they are unable, under the existing pension arrangements, to earn a full pension, or even one close in size to a full pension, before reaching retirement age. The Hong
Kong Government therefore plans in this context to introduce a
higher pension earning factor for members of the judiciary. planned factor is 1/340th which is approximately double that of the factof of 1/675th provided for under the new pension scheme.
However, since the higher pension factor is to take account of the
fact that members of the judiciary are appointed later in life than
civil servants generally, it will only apply in respect of service
over the age of 50. Service under the age of 50 will earn pension
at the standard rate at 1/675th. Also, it is planned that the new pension arrangements should only apply to service undertaken after the date of introduction of the new pension scheme. The maximum pension will remain at 2/3rds of the retiring salary.
CONFIDENTIAL
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