TNAG-1731-FCO40-2444-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 262

تار

A fundamental question which arose during the ad hoc group's scrutiny of this bill was whether there case for legislating a restriction to freedom of expression in the case of films which would be likely to seriously damage good relations with other territories. After very careful consideration, the

ad hae

majority of the group concluded that, in principle,

such a restriction was necessary and should be provided by law (hence Clause 10(2)(c)), but that the bill should be amended to safeguard against abuse of this restrictive power by, amongst other things, obliging the censor to And exercise the power in accordance with Article 19. this is precisely the intention of the take into account formula, which was endorsed by the majority

of members at a full in-house meeting.

Turning now to the intention of the comply with" formula, I must say immediately that it is Mr. LEE's privilege to explain how, if at all, that intention is different from the "take into account" formula. This Members, is a crucial point because if Mr. LEE's intention in proposing the "comply with" formula is that the right to freedom of expression should take precedence over all other factors which the censor must consider, he is in effect proposing an amendment which will nullify a basic principle of the bill, namely, that the censorship process inevitably involves a balancing of conflicting factors. Since Mr. LEE is too experienced a legislator to seek to achieve changes to the principles of a bill after it has been agreed to on second reading, it must follow that the intention of his amendment is not to nullify all other factors for the censor to consider as set out in Clause 10, but rather to ensure that the censor is effectively obliged to act in accordance with Article 19. And this, as I have already stated, is exactly the intention of the "taking into account formula.