Proposals on the exchange of fugitives between the SAR and the mainland had been finalised and would be submitted to the Executive Council for discussion shortly, a government source said yesterday.
Hong Kong signed extradition agreements with other countries before the handover, including the US, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Indonesia and the Netherlands.
However, discussions with China did not progress well before July as the post-handover arrangements had to deal with matters within a country rather than between sovereign nations.
Hong Kong had no extradition agreement with China before the handover, just administrative arrangements.
Meanwhile, the source said there were seven areas of legislation pending adaptation to bring them into line with the Basic Law, including local legislation implementing PLA law.
