The Legislative Council held a committee on the District Councils (Amendment) Bill 2023 today (5 December) to consider the Bill article by article. At the meeting, many Members paid attention to the detailed wording and intent of the provisions.


Wu Qiubei, a member of the guild and member of the Legislative Council of the Federation of Trade Unions, said that the functions described in the draft were "too rigidly written", questioning "whether the government does not need to say it without consultation?" He suggested that the Government should "write leniency and less leniency" in the Bill, allowing District Councils to follow up on the Government's work, etc., but the Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Ms Mak Mei-kuen retorted that "writing leniency" would be contrary to the original intention of the District Councils in the Basic Law.


Li Dongguo. (Profile photo/Photo by Lin Jingyi)

Basic Law uses "powers" clause and "functions" The Commissioner said that there is no difference

The Draft states that the District Councillor Ordinance is amended to amend the functions and composition of District Councils, and NDP Legislative Council member Lai Tung-kwok mentioned that the "Functions and Powers and Methods of Composition of Regional Organizations" in Article 97 of the Basic Law is written as "Functions and Powers", but the "Draft" uses functions as a clause, questioning the difference between the "Functions" and "Functions" of the District Councils. He believes that if the two meanings are similar, why don't the authorities use the words uniformly to avoid misunderstanding?

The Law Draftsman stated that, according to the meaning of the relevant English terms, "Functions" also included the meaning of "Powers", and that the relevant definition was broad enough and that there was no difference in legal effect between "power" and "function", so there was such an amendment.

The wording and content of the Bill's functions of District Councillors have also attracted Members' attention, with Legislative Council member Chan Chun-ying pointing out that the term people's livelihood is very worded in Hong Kong's legal texts, questioning whether the use of the word "people's livelihood" would be difficult for the public to understand. The Law Draftsman explained that the term was adopted in response to the requirements of the Bureau of Policy.

Members questioned district council functions for 'writing too hard'

Yeung Wing-kit, an A4 coalition in the Legislative Council, pointed out that the Bill requires District Councils to accept government consultation, believing that this shows that District Councils have become passive, and asked whether the Ordinance will be changed to "accept consultation and provide advice". Wu Qiubei believes that "the current function is too rigidly written", and asked rhetorically: "(The word) accepts government consultation, does the government not need to say without consultation?" He pressed on whether the provisions could be "written with less leniency" and include provisions allowing District Councils to follow up on their work.

The Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs, Ms Mak Mei-kuen, reiterated that the phrase "accepting government advice" follows the Basic Law and emphasises the original positioning of District Councils in the Basic Law. It means that in the remaining ordinances, it has been stated that the District Councils are to listen to and collect views from the public and submit them to the Government.

As for Wu Qiubei's reference to "writing leniency and less leniency", after reading the provisions of Article 97 of the Basic Law at the meeting, Mak Meijuan retorted that the amendment was to return the District Council to its position as an advisory organization, "Therefore, if Members of the Ng Dynasty should write leniency again, including if they (the District Council) have the function of following up, or the function of supervising, it seems that they should be fixed under Article 97 of the Basic Law." Wu Qiubei responded: "I... I don't mean to break through Article 97, or violate Article 97, but in fact, I can have space at the level of the District Council."

District Council Amendment Committee held 7 meetings on the 11th Next Monday marathon meeting District Council|Chief Executive appointed, ex officio members must be qualified to review Direct election expenditure of up to 95,16 District Council Reform|Li Huiqiong said to have received more than 160.<> million signatures Chen Guoji: Fundamentally change the system