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Urgent Business: Hong Kong, Freedom of Expression and 1997
territories" following revelations in the Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) that the practice had been going on for more than 34 years without legal authority.28 According to the AWSJ, since 1973 about 20 films had been banned on political grounds, 11 of these about China, the "most significant other territory". The practice, moreover, continued despite the government having been advised by its own Legal Department as early as 1972 that it was likely to be illegal.
Controversy over the "good relations" provision of the Film Censorship Ordinance did not take long to resurface following its enactment. In 1989, 16 minutes of a Taiwanese documentary on the pro-democracy protests in Beijing of that year were cut by the Authority in what was a frank admission of the government's policy of political appeasement towards China (see Section 4.11.3. below).
4.6 SEARCH AND SEIZURE
After surviving unchallenged in its present form since 1948, Section 50(7) of the Police Force Ordinance became the focus of controversy in early October 1989 following an unprecedented seizure of videotapes of "raw" news footage from Hong Kong's two television stations (see Section 4.11.1 below).29 The seizure had been sanctioned by a warrant, issued under this provision, allowing the police to search for and seize unedited tapes recorded by television news crews during a clash between members of the April 5th Action Group and the police on September 29.
Section 50 of the Ordinance governs the "arrest, detention and bail of suspected persons and seizure of suspected property".30 Subsection (7) lays down the procedures by which the search for, and seizure of, any related material or property may take place. Although Section 50(7) underwent minor amendment in June 1992, this has not altered the substantial powers of the police to enter premises, by force if necessary and seize material. These powers are conditional on a police officer first satisfying a magistrate, under oath, that there is reasonable cause to suspect that the premises contain newspapers, books, documents, articles, or chattels which are likely to be pertinent to an investigation of an offence.
28 Film Censorship Regulations were formerly sanctioned under the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance, although no such principles were actually laid down as proper guidelines. Independently of any such regulatory principles, films considered to be damaging to good relations were censored following consultations with the political advisor, a British government official who advises the colony on diplomatic relations. See "Hong Kong Political Censor for China", Asian Wall Street Journal, 17 March 1987.
29 Police Force Ordinance (Cap 232), amended and consolidated in its present form in 1948, with latest revisions in
1992.
30
As summarized in the Ordinance's marginal notes. See Police Force Ordinance, Section 50, p 18.
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