Chairman, I now propose technical amendments to clauses 1 to 20 of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Amendment) Bill 2023 (“the Bill”). Please refer to the Appendix to the Script for details of the amendments.

The amendments can be broadly categorized into two aspects, namely amendments to the proposed definitions and draft amendments.

With regard to the amendments to the proposed definitions, firstly, clause 3 of the Bill is about the proposed definition of “Master of an additional College”. Under clause 3(1) of the Bill, a new definition of “Master” is originally proposed to be added to section 2(1) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong Ordinance (Cap. 1109) (“the Ordinance”) means, in relation to an additional College of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (“CUHK”), the Master of the College concerned. Under the existing section 2(1) of the Ordinance, “Head” is defined to mean, in relation to an original College (i.e. Chung Chi College, The United College of Hong Kong or New Asia College) or Shaw College of CUHK, the Head of the College concerned. Since “Head” and “Master” in the English text would be rendered as “院長” in the Chinese text, which may cause confusion, the amendment seeks to replace the definition of “Master” originally proposed in the Bill with the proposed definition of “Master of an additional College” to avoid possible confusion.

Next, it is an amendment to the proposed definition of “commencement date” in the transitional provisions in clause 19. The amendment seeks to clarify that “commencement date”, for the purposes of the transitional provisions, would mean the date on which the enacted Ordinance comes into operation under section 1(2) of the enacted Ordinance, that is, the day on which the enacted Ordinance is published in the Gazette.

In respect of drafting amendments, firstly, textual amendments are made to the English text of clauses 7, 9 and 10 of the Bill, replacing “shall” with “is to”, “are to” or “must” to update the wording of the relevant provisions and ensure consistency of wording between neighbouring clauses.

Secondly, textual amendments are made to the English text of clauses 10 and 15 of the Bill to replace “normally” with “ordinarily”, so as to update the English equivalent of the term “通常居住” in the Chinese text of the Ordinance from “normally resident” to “ordinarily resident” to make it consistent with the wording used in other laws of Hong Kong.

Chairman, the aforesaid amendments do not affect the original meaning of the provisions of the Bill. The amendments have taken on board the views put forward by members of the Bills Committee during the scrutiny of the Bill, as well as the views of the Legal Adviser of the Legal Service Division. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to them here.

The Bills Committee raises no objection to the above amendments, and I implore Members to support and endorse them.

I so submit. Thank you, Members. Thank you, Chairman.