TNAG-2290-FCO40-3296-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Macau-1991 — Page 81

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law (51,16)". The Chief Executive in Macao, upon dissolving the Legislative Council is also bound to "explain the matter to the public" in Macao (Article 53), this is not specified for Hong Kong (Article 50). In Macao, the Chief Executive does not need to apply to the Legislative Council for provisional appropriations if it has already refused his budget (article 54), the Chief Executive of Hong Kong does need to go through this process (Article 51). In the event of vacancy of the office of Chief Executive, it must be filled within 120 days (Macao Article 56) or 6 months (Hong Kong Article 53). The Hong Kong version of the Executive Council (Article 54) specifies that its members must have no right of abode in any foreign country, this does not apply in Macao (Article 58). In Macao (Article 59), the Executive Council must meet once a month.

Section 2: the Executive Authorities.

8.

This section covers Articles 62 to 67 of the Macao BL and 59 to 65 of the Hong Kong BL. There a a few minor differences. the main ones are that the principal officials in Hong Kong may not have right of abode in a foreign country (Article 61), and this is not specified for Macao (Article 64). Hong Kong's BL contains Article 63 "the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong special administrative Region shall control criminal prosecutions, free from any interference". The closest Article to this in the Macao BL is Article 92 dealing with the functions of the Procuratorate, under the Judiciary section, which also provides that these functions be carried out free from any interference, but also has a little more detail than the Hong Kong equivalent. The Government of the Hong Kong SAR has to obtain approval from the Legislative Council for taxation and public expenditure (Article 64), there is no such phrase in the corresponding description of the Macao government's accountability (Article 66).

Section 3: the Legislature.

9.

This section covers Articles 68 to 83 of the Macao BL and 66 to 78 of the Hong Kong BL. There are some differences in the order in which the various subjects are covered as well as a number of textual variations. Members of the Hong Kong Legislature may not generally have the right of abode in any foreign country (Article 67). However up to 20 per cent of the members of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong and Macao (Article 67 and 69) may be foreign nationals, or, in the case of Hong Kong, have foreign right of abode. In Hong Kong, as with the Chief Executive, the ultimate aim is the election of all members by universal suffrage (Article 68), in Macao it is merely stated that "most" members will be elected (Article 70). The term of office of the first Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council will be two years, normally four (Article 69), for Macao this will "be stipulated in another document" (Article 71). The functions and powers are slightly different. Hong Kong has two that Macao does not have: "to raise questions on the work of the government (73,5); and to endorse the appointment and removal of the judges of the Court of Final Appeal and the Chief Judge of the High Court (73,7)". The former of these is dealt with under a separate Article in the Macao BL, Article 78. Macao has one power Hong Kong does not

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