Access to documents and records of the Legislature

Policy on Access to the Legislature's Documents and Records

  • The Legislative Council passed a resolution at its meeting of 19 March 2014 to amend the Rules of Procedure to set out the following Policy on Access to the Legislature's Documents and Records ("the Policy"):
  • The documents and records of the Legislature (and its committees) in the custody of the Legislative Council Secretariat may be made available for access subject to the following -
    • (a)
      if the Legislature (or its committee) considers that any of its documents or records should not be made available for access or prescribes a period for which it should not be made so available, access to the document or record may not be made available until the prescribed period has expired or it has been in existence for 50 years, whichever is shorter;
    • (b)
      any such document or record may be made available for access before expiry of the closure period specified in paragraph (a) consequent to a review;
    • (c)
      any other document or record of the Legislature (or its committee) may be made available for access at any time but must be made so available when it has been in existence for 20 years; and
    • (d)
      access to any document or record or any part of it shall not be made available if such access is prohibited by law.

Committee on Access to the Legislature's Documents and Records

  • The Legislature has established the Committee on Access to the Legislature's Documents and Records ("the Committee") under Rule 74A of the Rules of Procedure to determine whether a document or record of the Legislature (or its committee) should be made available for access earlier than the expiry of the closure period specified in the Policy; set guidelines for implementing the Policy; consider any objection against the denial of access to such a document or record by the Clerk; and consider any other matter relating to or arising from the Policy.
  • The Committee consists of the President, who shall be the Chairman, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the House Committee, and not more than 10 other members who shall be elected at a House Committee meeting in such manner as the House Committee may determine.
  • The terms of reference, membership and the practice of the Committee are set out in Rule 74A of the Rules of Procedure.

Practice and procedure of the Committee on Access to the Legislature's Documents and Records

  • The Committee has considered the following principles to determine its own practice and procedure under Rule 74A(11) of the Rules of Procedure to ensure that the public's right to access information of the Legislature would not be unduly undermined:
    • (a)
      Transparency: there should be maximum transparency regarding how the Committee determines that a closed document and record should be allowed access but without divulging the information contained therein unless and until the Committee has determined that such document and record may be made available for access;
    • (b)
      Efficiency: the Committee should carry out its functions with efficiency and as much expedition as is practicable; and
    • (c)
      Consistency: the Committee should be consistent in determining whether to allow access to closed documents and records.

Exempted categories of documents and records of the Legislature

Review of the documents and records of the Legislature

  • The Legislative Council has authorized the Clerk to the Legislative Council ("the Clerk") under Rule 6(5A) of the Rules of Procedure to conduct the review referred to in paragraph (b) of the Policy above within 25 years of the existence of the document or record as to whether access should be made available at an earlier time, and to conduct a further review of the document or record, if not already made available for public access, at least once every four years from the last review. The Clerk may deny access to a document or record in accordance with any guidelines, including the exempted categories, set by the Committee. The list of time-expired documents and records disclosed as at 1 November 2023 is as follows -

Requests for access to the Legislature's documents and records

  • To enhance the transparency, the Committee will publish the lists of approved and denied access requests onto the Legislative Council Website. The lists showing the position as at 16 August 2024 are as follows -
  • List of approved cases (as at 16 August 2024)
  • List of denied cases (as at 16 August 2024)

Copyright Notice for archival documents and records of the Legislature

  • 1.
    Unless otherwise indicated, all materials contained in the archival documents and records of the Legislature ("relevant documents") is subject to and protected by copyright owned by the Legislative Council under section 184 of the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528) or other parties.
  • 2.
    Where the relevant documents contains information protected by the Legislative Council copyright, such information may be used subject to the following conditions:
    • (a)
      The information must not be for sale, gain, profit or reward in any kind, or any other commercial purposes. "Commercial purposes" includes the purposes to offer to provide a business opportunity and to advertise or promote any goods, services, fixed properties and business opportunities.
    • (b)
      The information must be reproduced accurately and must not be used in any manner adversely affecting any right or interest of the Legislative Council and The Legislative Council Commission.
    • (c)
      "The Legislative Council" must be acknowledged as the source and copyright owner of the information.
  • 3.
    Where the relevant documents contains information protected by third party copyright, the provision of the relevant documents does not automatically give the recipient a right to use such information in a way that would infringe copyright. Permission to use third-party copyright information should be sought from the copyright owners concerned.
Introduction
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Policy on Access to the Legislature's Documents and Records
Committee on Access to the Legislature's Documents and Records
Practice and procedure of the Committee on Access to the Legislature's Documents and Records
Exempted categories of documents and records of the Legislature
Review of the documents and records of the Legislature
Requests for access to the Legislature's documents and records
Copyright Notice for archival documents and records of the Legislature