Hong Kong’s Article 23 bill: subsidiary legislation will be subject to scope of main law, security chief says
- Secretary for Security Chris Tang also denies city leader can introduce new restrictions and offences ‘randomly’
- Subsidiary legislation can be enacted first and scrutinised by legislature later under procedure known as negative vetting
The chief executive’s power to make subsidiary legislation “for the needs of safeguarding national security” was introduced in one of the more than 40 amendments to the bill earlier this week.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung on Friday stressed that any subsidiary legislation made under the added clause would be subject to the scope of the main ordinance and such provisions were regularly found in Hong Kong and other common law jurisdictions.
He said suggestions the city leader could invoke the new clause to “randomly” create new laws was a deliberate attempt to “discredit” the bill and “intimidate Hong Kong people”.
“Some people have suggested that while authorities could cancel the passport [of an absconder under the proposed law], subsidiary legislation could also be made to cancel the identity cards too,” he said.
“That will not be the case because the main legislation states we can cancel the passport only, nothing more.”
One example of possible subsidiary legislation given by the security minister was a law to specify protection of people entitled to special safeguarding under the legislation.
The added clause stipulates that subsidiary legislation can be made for the “better carrying into effect” the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.
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Article 55 of the 2020 law stipulates that Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security can “exercise jurisdiction over a case” concerning related offences under one of three conditions, including amid “a major and imminent threat to national security”.
Former Basic Law Committee member Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee suggested that subsidiary legislation could provide the office with means to investigate relevant cases and to arrange for suspects involved to be transferred to mainland China for trial.
New offences under subsidiary legislation could result in a maximum penalty of seven years’ jail and a HK$500,000 (US$63,920) fine. Such legislation can be enacted first and scrutinised by the legislature later under a procedure known as negative vetting.
The Legislative Council’s House Committee agreed to fast track the bill at a Friday meeting by waiving a 12-day notice period. A bills committee cleared the legislation the day before after having met for nearly 50 hours since Friday last week.
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A clause introduced as part of the amendments will also require government workers to respect and implement decisions of the national security committee.
Tang said the clause was included in the current bill because the new legislation and the 2020 national security law “complement each other and form an integrated whole”.
The domestic national security legislation is designed to target five types of offences: treason; insurrection; theft of state secrets and espionage; sabotage endangering national security; and external interference.
It is mandated by Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
