MPF Authority establishment stalled by legislative delay

The Government is to postpone the setting up of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Authority to focus on completion of the huge volume of subsidiary legislation needed to launch the scheme.

Pamela Tan Kam Mi-wah, director of the Government Secretariat of the Mandatory Provident Fund Office, said plans for the authority, which would administer the scheme, would need to take a back seat while the office concentrated on what could total at least 10 separate statutes.

The Government has passed enabling legislation giving it authority to set up the scheme.

The proposed round of subsidiary acts and regulations will be needed to set up the organisation required to run the fund and to set the guidelines for its implementation. This week, the Government progress report confirmed it intended bringing the new legislation into operation by next year.

The report said: 'We set up the MPF office in February, which was slightly later than scheduled because of difficulties in seeking funding support.' It also convened a panel of specialists and the MPF advisory board to discuss details of the legislation.

The report said: 'In order to meet the overall target of putting the MPF legislation in place in 1997, we are now concentrating on the drafting of subsidiary legislation.