Plans to launch a prestigious Basic Law library on July 1 have been derailed at the last minute because the Government fears many of the items to be displayed may be state secrets.
Organisers have spoken of their frustration after the Central Library in Causeway Bay said it could not allow public access to the collection of constitutional documents until it received official approval.
'We can only display these documents as and when the Government has clearly declared that this information can be shown in public,' said Yvonne Kwok, senior marketing co-ordinator for the Central Library.
'At the moment, according to the Government, the Basic Law documents are still in the category of classified documents.'
The materials are seen as crucial to developing understanding of the Basic Law and could shed light on the meaning of controversial provisions such as those dealing with the civil service or right of abode.
They have been collected over more than a year by members of the Basic Law Institute, a non-governmental organisation which signed an agreement with the administration last year to jointly establish the library.
The documents reveal details of the work of various committees involved in establishing the Basic Law, including minutes of meetings. Many of them are stamped with the Chinese characters for 'secret document' or carry a confidentiality warning.