Expatriate civil servants have warned against infringing the Basic Law in cutting exclusive perks allowing them to use taxpayers' money to educate their children abroad.
The immediate past president of the Association of Expatriate Civil Servants, Allan Roger, expressed concern yesterday that the government might breach the mini-constitution in cutting education and other allowances which form part of the civil servants' appointment terms.
Article 100 of the Basic Law stipulates that salaries, allowances and conditions of service shall be no less favourable than before the handover.
The government struck a deal with the staff last month to cut salaries to their 1997 levels in two years, amid growing pressure to ease the Budget deficit.
But Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong Wing-ping on Wednesday announced an overhaul of allowances, including the overseas education allowance, which Mr Wong described as 'outdated'. One option is to reduce the education allowance to the pre-1997 level.
Mr Roger said the number of expatriates benefiting from the education allowance was dropping. But some allowances form part of the conditions of service and would be subject to the same protection under the Basic Law.