Xinhua may be exempt from rates
XINHUA could be legally exempt from paying millions of dollars in rates on its properties in Happy Valley, Wan Chai, Kowloon Tong, Stanley and the New Territories under the new Adaptation of Laws ordinance.
Government legal advisers have been studying the question of whether Xinhua is still legally bound to pay rates, but declined to give a definitive answer.
'We can't say decidedly. Things relating to these kinds of laws are often complicated. You can't just say yes or no,' a government Secretariat spokesman told the Sunday Morning Post. Sources said Xinhua might agree to continue paying rates, but there was uncertainty over whether the Government could enforce it.
The Adaptation of Laws (Interpretive Provisions) Ordinance this month transferred the privileges of the British Crown to the 'state' - which includes the SAR Government, Xinhua, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the PLA Garrison and the Chinese side of the Joint Liaison Group.
Privileges include exemptions from several laws.
A statement drafted by government legal advisers this week said: 'Xinhua is paying rates in accordance with the rating ordinance', but failed to clarify the agency's legal obligations.
'Since the law has only just changed and they presumably haven't had occasion to pay rates since [then] . . . it's a meaningless answer,' said University of Hong Kong law professor Peter Wesley-Smith.
Because the Rating Ordinance does not specifically state that it binds the Crown, 'the normal presumption would be that it does not'.
A 19th century case in England found that premises owned by the Crown - from royal palaces and offices to judges' residences - were not subject to the Ratings Act.
'I would have thought the question for the Legal Department must be easily answered,' the professor said. 'If the Government generally pays rates, presumably it is doing so because of the Ratings Ordinance.
'If the Government is not bound, clearly [Xinhua] is not either.' A Secretariat spokesman confirmed yesterday government departments paid no rates.
Xinhua's much-picketed headquarters at 387 Queen's Road East has a rateable value of $35.4 million, which incurs an annual rates bill of $1.6 million.
But it also uses 379 Queen's Road East, 5 Sharp Street West in Wan Chai, 6 York Road in Kowloon Tong and has many flats as staff quarters at One Broadwood Road, Happy Valley.
