TNAG-2557-FCO40-3732-Hong-Kong-Bill-of-Rights-Immigration-(Amendment)-Bill-1992-1992 — Page 19

Annex B

Guidelines for

aligning existing legislation with the Bill of Rights

In March 1991, the Secretary for Constitutional

Affairs advised policy secretaries that

(a) a very conservative approach should be taken

to the question of amending legislation to ensure conformity with the BOR, taking the initiative only where it is judged that the probability and the practical consequences of successful challenge are such as to make pre-emptive action necessary, or where HKG is clearly failing to implement its obligations under the ICCPR;

(b)

(c)

(d)

subject to (a) above, legislative initiatives arising from recommendations of the Law Reform Commission should be followed up naturally, although the urgency with which particular legislative amendments should be processed would depend on the nature of the amendments in question;

in some cases where the consequences of a successful challenge in the courts would still be considerable, contingency legislation should be prepared, ready for introduction as and when the courts strike down a current law;

in other cases, HKG may reasonably wait until after a challenge is successfully made in the court;

(e) where practicable, alternative ways of

achieving the Government's main objectives but not involving legislation should be considered as far as possible, if the exercise of certain statutory power in a certain way would put HKG in breach of the BOR, or would arguably do so.