**********************************************************
Following is the speech by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in moving the second reading of the Births, Deaths and Marriages (Digital Image) Bill in the Legislative Council today (March 8) (translation):
Madam President,
I move that the Births, Deaths and Marriages (Digital Image) Bill (the Bill) be read the second time.
The existing ordinances governing the registration of births, deaths and marriages mainly include:
(a) Civil Aviation (Births, Deaths and Missing Persons) Ordinance (Cap. 173);
(b) Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Cap. 174);
(c) Births Registration (Special Registers) Ordinance (Cap. 175);
(d) Deaths Registration (Special Registers) Ordinance (Cap. 176);
(e) Marriage Ordinance (Cap. 181); and
(f) Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance (Cap. 478).
Generally speaking, these ordinances provide that the registration records shall be stored or maintained only in the form of paper or microfilm. In consequence, officers of the Immigration Department ("ImmD") have to process records mainly in paper or microfilm format, which is far from efficient in terms of manpower and resources. This mode of operation also hampers the introduction of new services, in particular electronic services.
To continue to enhance service delivery and operational efficiency, the ImmD is developing Phase III of the Updated Information Systems Strategy, which includes the Application and Investigation Easy System (APPLIES) and the Electronic Records Programme (ERP) as two of its core systems. Both systems are scheduled for completion by end 2006. After the implementation of the APPLIES and ERP, the ImmD will be able to maintain registration records of births, deaths and marriages in the form of digital image, or in the form of digital image and computer record concurrently, and to process their related applications electronically. With these systems, most of the immigration-related services can be delivered electronically, e.g. e-booking of appointments, e-submission of applications and e-payment of service fees. The time for processing these applications will be reduced as well.
To enable the ImmD to maintain registration records of births, deaths and marriages and process related applications electronically, we need to amend the existing ordinances governing the registration of births, deaths and marriages. Therefore, we propose to amend the relevant ordinances. The Bill, which proposes amendments to the above six ordinances, mainly aims to:
(a) empower the Registrar of Births and Deaths and the Registrar of Marriages to keep various registers of births and deaths, notices of intended marriage and certificates of marriage in the form of digital image solely or in the form of digital image and computer data concurrently;
(b) empower the Registrars to destroy or otherwise dispose of the records in paper or microfilm format after they have been stored in the form of digital image solely or in the form of digital image and computer data concurrently;
(c) repeal the provisions relating to maintenance of register books and microfilms, which will become obsolete under the new mode of storage; and
(d) provide for other consequential amendments, e.g. to allow the hard copy of the digital image of a certificate of marriage to be admissible as evidence in court.
We hope to keep pace with the development of society and to meet the public's rising expectation of the quality of government services by making greater use of technologies. If the Bill is passed, the ImmD will be able to make fuller use of electronic means to process immigration-related applications, and the public will be able to obtain related services more expeditiously. For instance, after the passage of the Bill, the public will be able to apply for copies of records of births, deaths and marriages more quickly through electronic means. In addition to electronic means, the public may still choose to submit their applications through conventional means.
Madam President, the amendments proposed in the Bill are crucial to the improvement of the mode of operation of the ImmD and the quality of its services. With these remarks, I hope Members will support the Bill and pass it as soon as possible.
Ends/Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:19
NNNN
