The vice-chairwoman of the Basic Law Committee, Elsie Leung Oi-sie, says that the group will meet twice a year to study aspects of the implementation of Hong Kong's mini-constitution, including the impact of local court judgments.
The committee's performance has long been criticised for a lack of transparency and its tendency to rubber-stamp decisions made by the central government.
As far as one can tell, given this lack of transparency, the committee - particularly its Hong Kong members - has failed to discharge its functions properly. The decision that it will review the rulings of the Hong Kong courts, which are promised independence by the Basic Law, is extremely worrying - and it is unfortunate that the suggestion comes from the former secretary for justice.
The committee cannot define its own powers, which are specified in the Basic Law. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress must consult the Basic Law Committee before it makes certain important decisions: overturning a Hong Kong law for breach of the Basic Law; applying a mainland law to Hong Kong, or disapplying one; interpreting the Basic Law; and introducing amendments. None of these gives it any authority to review, on its own, judicial decisions or the implementation of the Basic Law.
The Basic Law Committee was intended to provide a sort of bridge between the vastly different legal systems of the mainland and Hong Kong, to preserve the spirit and letter of the Basic Law and the guarantees of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. As far as possible, it was to help establish principles for decision making where the two systems interacted.
Hong Kong members were to be independent - in an unusual provision, they are nominated jointly by the chief executive, the president of the Legislative Council and the chief justice. One presumes that in discharging their functions, they should explain to the mainland members, and ultimately the Standing Committee, the common-law understandings of the Basic Law and the impact of proposed decisions of the Standing Committee on the integrity and coherence of the common law. Discussions of this kind would also help Beijing improve its own legal system as it searches for ways to strengthen practices of legality.
