EC Praises Legislative Reform In Hong Kong

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

09 August 2005

The European Commission on Friday issued its 2004 Annual Report on Hong Kong.

In the report, the EC acknowledged significant economic developments, improvement in legislative reform, and a growing trade relationship between the EU and Hong Kong.

However, it raised concerns on the implementation of the “One Country Two Systems” principle and hoped for further progress in line with the high level of autonomy granted to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

The report stated that the central authorities produced a ruling allowing for only minor changes to the electoral system in 2007/8, and observed that with the high level of autonomy granted to the HKSAR under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, this appears inconsistent.

The European Commission continued to hope that significant progress would be made towards the implementation of universal suffrage, as stated in the Basic Law, suggesting that:

"The overall conduct of the September 2004 legislative elections however testified to the political maturity of Hong Kong and showed that there is a sound basis for further democratisation."

The report went on to add that the SAR's judiciary, primacy of the rule of law, and protection of rights, such as freedom of expression (including the healthy development of civil society) are among its greatest assets. However, it expressed concern regarding the lack of a competition law.

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