Archives Law
(HKLRC Consultation Paper)
On 6 December 2018, the Archives Law Sub-committee of the Law Reform Commission published a consultation paper to invite public views on whether reform of the current public records management regime is needed; and if so, what kind of reform is to be preferred .
At present, government records and archives management are regulated under an administrative regime under which the Government Records Service is the central records management and service agency.
The Sub-committee has studied the law and practice of a number of jurisdictions, in particular, Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand and Singapore. A comparison reveals that almost all other jurisdictions, including these five studied more closely by the Sub-Committee, have in place an archives law of varying breadths and depths.
The Sub-committee considers there are considerations in favour of the enactment of an archives law in Hong Kong, but there are also practical concerns over its implementation. On balance, the Sub-committee’s provisional views are that it does see a case for the introduction of an archives law to further strengthen the management, protection and preservation of public records and archives in Hong Kong.
The Sub-committee believes that government records form an integral part of the community’s shared heritage that belongs to all, and it therefore seeks to engage as much of the public as possible in this consultation exercise by asking various consultation questions, apart from setting out its observations and provisional views.
The Sub-committee would welcome views, comments and suggestions on any issues discussed in the consultation paper. The consultation period will last till 5 March 2019.
| Press Release (PDF) (MS Word) |
| Executive Summary (PDF) (MS Word) |
| Consultation Paper (PDF) (MS Word) |