LegCo Paper No. CB 258/95-96


COMMITTEE ON MEMBERS’ INTERESTS
Guidelines on Registration of Interests



PURPOSE

This paper proposes some minor changes to the Guidelines on Registration of Interests (Guidelines) and the Registration Form.

BACKGROUND

2. Under Standing Order 64A, Members of the Legislative Council are required to register their interests in such form as may be approved by the President, and the Clerk shall cause such interests to be entered in a register which shall be available for inspection by the public. In the light of experience gained in maintaining and updating the register, the Legislative Council Secretariat has suggested some minor changes to the Guidelines and Registration Form which are set out in paras 3-5 below.

PROPOSAL

Guidelines on Registration of Interests

3. SO 64A(3) states, " The Clerk shall cause those particulars to be entered in a Register of Members’ Interests and that register shall be available for inspection by any person during office hours." Apart from making the register available for public inspection, it has been the practice to allow members of the public to make photostat copies of the documents. It is considered desirable to draw Members’ attention to this aspect. Accordingly, it is suggested that the following be added under Section II of the Guidelines :

"(4) Under SO 64A(3), Registration Forms completed by Members are available for public inspection. Members of the public may also make copies of the forms."

The suggested amendments are sidelined in the annex for easy reference. Members may wish to be aware that a similar provision exists in the Guidelines on the Use of Members' Operating Expenses Reimbursement.

Registration Form

4. The Registration Form consists of 10 pages but Members are required to sign the last page of the form. In order that the different pages of a form submitted by a Member will not mix up with those of the forms submitted by other Members, particularly in cases where more than one form are made available for inspection and photo-copying by a member of the public, it is suggested that Members be required either to sign, or put down their full name on, each and every page of the form. This arrangement will ensure that the public will not mix up the forms of different Members when making copies. Furthermore, during a session when there are changes in the particulars of the registrable interests reported at the beginning of the session, Members may simply complete and sign the relevant pages, instead of the entire form.

Chinese Translation of the Guidelines

5. Opportunity is taken to update the Chinese translation of the Guidelines and the Registration Form. The proposed amendments are sidelined in the annex to facilitate Members’ consideration.

ADVICE SOUGHT

6. Members are invited to advise whether-

  1. a note should be included in the Guidelines to draw Members attention that the completed Registration Forms are made available for public inspection and that the public may make copies (para. 3 );

  2. Members should be asked

    1. to sign; or
    2. to put down their full names

    on each and every page of the form (para. 4)

  3. Members may sign and submit individual pages to report changes of particulars of the form during a session (para. 4); and

  4. the proposed amendments to the Chinese translation of the Guidelines and the Registration Form are acceptable (para. 5).

7. Subject to members’ advice and endorsement, the revised Registration Form will be submitted to the President for approval before adoption.

LegCo Secretariat

December 1995


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