TNAG-2325-FCO40-3369-Hong-Kong-Bill-of-Rights-policy-1991 — Page 118

CONFIDENTIAL

===

The IPPR draft clause provides that the "Bill of Rights

applies to any act or omission by or on behalf of any

person or body (including the Crown) in the performance of

any public function". It may be noted that Anthony Lester,

Q.C. was one of the authors of this paper.

11.

The advantages of this approach are: it is

consistent with the latest developments in administrative

law; it concentrates on the character of an action and not

on the formal status of the actor; and it is more likely to

be consistent with the international obligation

12.

The disadvantage of the approach is that it does not provide a high degree of certainty as to what hodies

are in fact bound by the BOR and there may be some concern

in the business sector that franchise holdera (e.g. China Motor Bus Co. or the broadcasting corporations) may he

caught by the BOR. Furthermore, some bodies may be bound by

the HOR for some purposes but not for others.

Option 5: Statutory Bodies

13.

The BOR could contain a clause which defined

public bodies by reference to their legal status under the

law. This would mean including all bodies established by

Ordinance.

14.

The advantage of this approach is that it is a

certain measure and bodies would know whether they were

bound

CONRDENTIAL