LC: Committee stage amendments to Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill 2003

Following is a speech by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, in moving the committee stage amendments to the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill 2003 in the Legislative Council today (June 23) :

Madam Chairman,

I move the amendments to clauses 1, 2, 6, 7, 16, 19, 20 and 21.

Clause 1(2) of the Bill provides for the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology to appoint the commencement date of the Amendment Ordinance, if enacted, by notice published in the Gazette. We now propose to amend clause 1(2) to specify June 30, 2004 as the commencement date.

The commencement date will tie in with the Administration's proposal to merge the Information Technology Services Department and the information technology-related divisions of the Communications and Technology Branch of the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau with effect from July 1, 2004. At its meeting on June 16, 2004, the Establishment Subcommittee agreed to recommend to the Finance Committee the creation of a Government Chief Information Officer post to head the merged organisation, entitled Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. We shall seek the other necessary approvals of the Finance Committee for the merger on June 25, 2004.

Subject to the Finance Committee's approval, the Chief Secretary for Administration will, by notice in the Gazette, declare a change in the title of "Director of Information Technology Services" referred to in the ETO to "Government Chief Information Officer" with effect from July 1, 2004. This declaration of change in title will be made in pursuance of section 55 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance, which provides that the Chief Secretary for Administration may by notice in the Gazette declare a change in title of any public officer or of any person referred to in any ordinance.

The proposed amendments to clauses 6 and 7 of the Bill are to make sections 11(2)(a) and 12 of the ETO consistent with the proposed new clause 2A, which I shall elaborate and propose to introduce later on.

The proposed amendment to clause 16 seeks to provide that, as suggested by the Bills Committee, the code of practice for recognised certification authorities issued by the Director of Information Technology Services should be published in the Gazette. We also propose to state in the ETO explicitly that the code of practice is not subsidiary legislation. As a consequence to these amendments, the definition of "code of practice" in the ETO will have to be amended as well, and hence the proposed amendment to clause 2.

The proposed amendments to clauses 19 and 20 are to make technical changes to the Chinese text of section 43 and new section 43A to maintain consistency within the text.

The final amendment is related to clause 21, which seeks to amend section 46. At present, section 46(1) provides that any person performing a function under the ETO shall not disclose the information that he or she has access to in the course of performing such function unless it is allowed under section 46(2) of the ETO. To facilitate the disclosure of such information for other lawful purposes, we had proposed to, through clause 21(b), widen the scope of exemption under section 46(2) to allow disclosure of such information if the disclosure is necessary for performing a function under any other ordinance.

Members of the Bills Committee were however concerned that the scope of the proposed exemption was too wide. In view of Members' concern and since disclosure of such information can be allowed under section 46(2) if it is made under the direction or order of a magistrate or court, we propose to withdraw the proposed amendment in clause 21(b).

All these proposed amendments to the Bill have been discussed and endorsed by the Bills Committee. I hope the Committee would support their passage.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

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