**************************************************
Following is the transcript (English portion) of the remarks made to the media by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose SK Lee, at Central Government Offices Main Wing this afternoon (July 12):
We respect and accept the judgment of the Court of Final Appeal (CFA). The fact that the granting of the suspension of the declaration by the CFA did allow us to continue to conduct covert surveillance and interception of communications to maintain good law and order, and to prevent crimes in Hong Kong. The Bills Committee of the Legislative Council has completed the clause-by-clause examination of the proposed Bill as well as the Committee Stage Amendments proposed by the Administration. The President of the Legislative Council has also agreed to convene an additional meeting on August 2 this year for the resumption of the debate on the proposed Bill. I urge Legislative Council members to support our Bill and to pass the necessary legislation so that our law enforcement agencies will have the legal power to continue to conduct covert surveillance and the necessary interception of communications to maintain the very good law and order and the corrupt-free environment of Hong Kong.
Reporter: How are you going to convince legislators...?
Secretary for Security: In drawing up our proposed Bill, we have taken into consideration the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission in this area as well as views expressed by different parties in the past few months because we have conducted consultations. We have also taken into consideration the latest developments in other common law jurisdictions. We feel the present Bill has taken into consideration on the one hand the protection of human rights, and on the other hand effective law enforcement. So, we hope that our proposed Bill can gain the support of legislators.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:09
NNNN