Lawmakers press to bilingualise aviation laws by 2027
SingTao · 1 SOURCES1 day ago8 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong lawmakers scrutinising the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 focused on why the Air Navigation (Hong Kong) Order 1995 remains available only in English nearly 30 years after the city's return to Chinese sovereignty. The government said the order and the Hong Kong Air Navigation (Fees) Regulations were originally UK laws applied to Hong Kong, and that Chinese drafting work is under way. Officials said they would strive to complete the drafting in 2027, after which the current monolingual provisions would be repealed and replaced by bilingual subsidiary legislation subject to negative vetting. Committee chair Priscilla Leung Mei-fun (陳曼琪) said the situation was far from ideal and urged the administration to speed up the work
Key Points
- The government submitted the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 to the Legislative Council, proposing about 490 amendments across roughly 150 pieces of legislation
- At a bills committee meeting on September 15, lawmakers asked why Cap. 448C, the Air Navigation (Hong Kong) Order 1995, still has only an English text
- Officials said Cap. 448C and Cap. 448D, the Hong Kong Air Navigation (Fees) Regulations, were UK laws applied to Hong Kong and have therefore long appeared in English only
- The government said it attaches importance to bilingual legislation, but Cap. 448C is lengthy and highly technical, so preparing an equivalent Chinese text takes time
- Acting Principal Assistant Secretary for Transport and Logistics Hui Yin-fung (許延鋒) said drafting with the Department of Justice had already begun before the previous meeting raised the issue
- Beyond the aviation provisions, the same bill also proposes changes to Schedule 2 of the Defence Firing Areas Ordinance, Cap. 196. Security Bureau Principal Assistant Secretary Cheung Pui-ling (張沛鈴) said the schedule currently lists people who must be notified at the start of each quarter about temporary firing practice plans by the Hong Kong Garrison, including government bureaux and departments and the secretary of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
- She said that, apart from the statutory requirement in Cap. 196, the Hong Kong Garrison also publishes quarterly live-firing notices in the Gazette with Security Bureau assistance, and related timetables and information are also released through government press releases. Because the relevant information is already made fully available to the public, the administration proposed deleting references in both the Chinese and English texts to the secretary of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
- Lawmaker Dominic Lee Tsz-king (李梓敬) questioned the need for the deletion, saying the club and the relevant post still exist. Cheung replied that the firing practice areas now specified in the law do not involve maritime exercises and therefore have no connection with the yacht club, making the reference unnecessary
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the timetable for replacing English-only aviation laws goes to the heart of the city's bilingual legal system and the accessibility of technical legislation. The debate also shows how a statute law clean-up bill can become a vehicle for addressing long-standing gaps in legal drafting and removing outdated references from the statute book