The Legislative Council is seeking to mothball the controversial mandatory provident fund (MPF) until after the handover, saying it is too complex and extensive to review accurately before June 30.
Councillors on Friday will ask the Government for a minimum review period of three months to consider the completed legislation, ending any hope of passing it before the original handover deadline.
Legco committee chairman Ronald Arculli said it would have to consider more than 200 pages of rules and regulations by the end of June to meet the current deadline.
'In the time available, it is just not possible to do a fair scrutiny,' Mr Arculli said.
If the three-month review period is approved, the MPF will be indefinitely postponed, with no guarantee as to when - or if - it might be returned to the Special Administrative Region's legislative agenda.
The move is likely to be a bitter but not unexpected blow to the financial services industry, which has spent millions of dollars preparing for the defined contribution scheme expected to generate up to $40 billion a year to manage.
Pension experts said there was also a growing realisation that Legco MPF sub-committee members could not meet the deadlines and still claim to have rigorously reviewed the proposed scheme.