TNAG-1734-FCO40-2447-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 300

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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 11 May 1988

Since completion of the year under report, Sir, Mr. Andrew LI, has succeeded me as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Prince Philip Dental Hospital. It has been a pleasure and a privilage for me to have been associated with this fine institution and its governing board since 1981. I wish Mr. Li every success and my best wishes go to all those who work and study at the Prince Philip Dental Hospital.

Oral answers to questions

Certificates of No Criminal Conviction

1. MRS. TAM asked: In relation to the issue of Certificates of No Criminal Conviction, will Government inform this Council of the following:

(a) the offences which are recordable by the police for the purpose of with-

holding the issue of such certificates;

(b) the authority which has the discretion to amend the list of recordable offences; (c) what criteria are used in deciding which offences should be recordable; and (d) how are offences covered by the spent conviction scheme treated in these

certificates?

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Sir, some of these points have already been answered in the acting Secretary for Security's letter of 8 April 1988 to the convenor of the OMELCO Security Panel, and I have agreed that this letter may be circulated to Members.

The answer to the first part of the question is that the police do not maintain records of offences for the purposes of withholding the issue of Certificates of No Criminal Conviction. The police maintain records in order to help them fulfil their statutory duties and for legal purposes in court proceedings. The police are therefore primarily concerned with local conditions when considering what offences should be the subject of record. Certificates of No Criminal Conviction are documents that are issued only because they are requested by foreign governments for immigration and student visa purposes. When considering either a certificate, or the reasons given for not issuing a certificate, foreign governments would of course apply their own standard of judgement based on legal conditions in their own countries.

As regards part (b) of the question, it is the Commissioner of Police who has the responsibility for determining what crimes or offences should be contained in the list of recordable offences.

With regard to part (c) of the question, the commissioner, in coming to a decision on any particular offence considers:

first, the gravity of the offence;

second, the attitude in law to the offence with regard to the penalty that can

be imposed;

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