ENG-2014 — Page 25

Calendar of Events

2014

3

11

15

17

24

25

30

31

August

4

31

and relevant Interpretation and Decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress as thousands of protesters march from Victoria Park to Central.

The Chief Executive meets the President of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr Nikola Gruevski, at Government House.

Formal negotiation of a Free Trade Agreement between Hong Kong and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) begins in Hong Kong.

The Chief Executive submits to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress his report on whether there is a need to amend the methods for selecting the Chief Executive of the HKSAR in 2017 and for forming the Legislative Council of the HKSAR in 2016. At the same time the government publishes its 'Report on the Public Consultation on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2016'.

With an order by the Court of Final Appeal in a 2012 judicial review coming into effect, the Registrar of Marriages begins treating those who have had full sex reassignment surgery as being of the sex to which they are reassigned.

A new set of Hong Kong definitive stamps is launched, with the Hong Kong Global Geopark of China as its theme and featuring 16 geosites in Sai Kung Volcanic Rock Region and Northeast New Territories Sedimentary Rock Region.

The final electoral registers for 2014 are released, containing a total of 3,507,786 electors for the geographical constituencies, 232,677 electors for the functional constituencies, other than the District Council (second) functional constituency, which has 3,251,274 electors. The final register for the Election Committee subsectors contains 239,089 voters.

The Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No 2) Ordinance 2014 is gazetted, increasing with effect from 23 February 2013 the ad valorem stamp duty rates generally on property transactions except where the purchaser acquiring a residential property is a Hong Kong permanent resident acting on his or her own behalf and is not a beneficial owner of any other residential property in Hong Kong at the time of acquisition. The police announce that Hong Kong's overall crime figure for the first half of the year dropped 6 per cent year-on-year to 33,916 cases, the lowest since 1980. The month is the hottest July on record in Hong Kong, with a monthly mean temperature of 29.8 degrees.

The Hong Kong team win 92 medals to take the FISAC-IRSF World Rope Skipping Championships (held in Hong Kong for the first time), with some team-members breaking world records.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress makes its decision on the methods for selecting the Chief Executive of the HKSAR in 2017. It decides that a nominating committee of the same size and composition and formed in the same way as the Election Committee for the fourth Chief Executive shall nominate two to three candidates for the office of Chief Executive, each of whom must be endorsed by more than half of the members of the nominating committee. All eligible electors of the HKSAR will have the right to vote in the election of the Chief Executive.

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