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Constitution and Administration

• To receive and handle complaints from Hong Kong residents;

• If a motion initiated jointly by one-fourth of all the members of the Legislative Council charges the Chief Executive with a serious breach of law or dereliction of duty and if he or she refuses to resign, the Legislative Council may, after passing a motion for investigation, give a mandate to the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal to form and chair an independent investigation committee. The committee shall carry out the investigation and report its findings to the Legislative Council. If the committee considers the evidence sufficient to substantiate such charges, the Legislative Council may pass a motion of impeachment by a two-thirds majority of all its members and report it to the Central People's Government (CPG) for decision; and

To summon, as required when exercising the above-mentioned powers and functions, persons concerned to testify or give evidence.

Composition

According to the Basic Law, the Legislative Council of the HKSAR shall be constituted by election. The sixth-term Legislative Council comprises 70 members', of whom 35 were returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections and 35 were returned by functional constituencies. The President of the Legislative Council is elected by and from among the council's members.

The sixth Legislative Council's term of office was originally four years from 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2020. In light of the Chief Executive's announcement on 31 July that the 2020 Legislative Council General Election, originally scheduled for 6 September, would be postponed for a year because of the COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress made a decision on 11 August that the sixth-term Legislative Council would continue to discharge its duties for not less than one year until the seventh term of the council begins. After the seventh-term Legislative Council is formed in accordance with the law, its term of office will be four years.

Meetings of the Legislative Council

The Legislative Council normally meets on Wednesdays. The business at its regular meetings includes introducing and considering bills and proposed resolutions; tabling subsidiary legislation, papers and reports for the council's consideration; asking questions on the government's work; and debating motions concerning matters of public interest. All council meetings are open to the public. Members may address the council in Cantonese, English or Putonghua. Members of the public can listen in any of these three languages in simultaneous interpretation and also watch the simultaneous sign language interpretation. The proceedings are recorded verbatim in the Official Record of Proceedings of the Legislative Council.

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There were changes in the membership of the sixth Legislative Council giving rise to vacancies. The details are available in the 'Members' section of the Legislative Council's website (www.legco.gov.hk).

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