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The following is issued on behalf of the Law Reform Commission:
      
     Five law students received recognition for the high quality of their essays at the Law Reform Essay Competition 2018 Certificate Award Ceremony today (July 26).

     Running for its fifth year, the competition was organised by the Law Reform Commission (LRC) to raise law students’ awareness of the importance of law reform and to give them an opportunity to consider and propose how a given area of Hong Kong law may be reformed.

     Officiating at the ceremony, the Secretary for Justice, Ms Teresa Cheng, SC, also Chairman of the LRC, said the competition has become an annual event of the LRC to help foster among law students an awareness of law reform and in particular the complexity of the legal and socio-economic implications it would entail.

     This year’s topic is “Should ride-hailing services be regulated in Hong Kong? If so, why and how?  If not, why not?”. This new global phenomenon growing out of technological advances in recent years has brought us convenience, as well as new legal and regulatory issues. They include, for example, characterisation of the legal relationship between the platform and the drivers, liability of the drivers, liability of the platform, current regulatory regime, consumers’ interest and protection and the need for new regulatory requirements as prompted by advances in technology and changes in human activities. In this year’s competition, a total of 36 essays were received.

     The LRC has been playing an important role in the development and promotion of effective law reform in the context of administration of justice. Changes brought by the global wave of technology advances have highlighted the importance of ensuring that the law is up-to-date and able to serve our ever-evolving society.

     The five winners, who are studying law programmes at the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong, were each awarded a one-month or two-month attachment this summer with a leading law firm, a barristers’ chambers, a commercial corporation or the Department of Justice.

     During the ceremony, Ms Cheng congratulated the five winners for their well-argued and well-drafted essays, and thanked the adjudicating panel, as well as sponsoring law firms, barristers’ chambers and a commercial corporation for their valuable support in offering internships as prizes for the finalists.

     The five winning essays are available at LRC’s website (www.hkreform.gov.hk/en/news/newsXML.htm?newsDate=20180308&selectedSubSection=2&jumpToDetails=y#newsDetails).    read more

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at a media session after the opening ceremony of Smart-Space 8 today (July 26).
 
Reporter: The Government received a lot of applications for its second round of the self-recommendation programme, and do you have specific, more specific, advisory roles that you plan to open up for those who are interested in joining the programme?
 
Chief Secretary for Administration: Our intention is quite clear. We want the voice of young people to be heard at the upper echelon of the Government. In other words, we want their voice to be heard at the top level of the Government, involve fully young people in policymaking, policy participation. And the very fact that we got 1 500 applications for only 20 positions this time underlined the fact that young people are very keen. In fact, the largest number of applications actually goes to the Council for Sustainable Development, followed by the Lantau Development Advisory Committee and also one of the social welfare advisory bodies involving building a harmonious community and so on. The Transport Advisory Committee attracted over a hundred applications. Now, these show that our young people are really very concerned about Hong Kong’s livelihood, Hong Kong’s long-term development. They want their voice to be heard and they are very serious about it. We want to connect with our young people and walk hand in hand with them. OK?
 
Reporter: Do you see a need for the Secretary to make a public apology over the scandal?
 
Chief Secretary for Administration: I think he really didn’t mean it at all. We all respect and value greatly the contribution of the police force in Hong Kong given the very fact that Hong Kong is now the world’s number three safest city. This simply testifies to the fact that our police force is one of the finest in the world, if not the best. What the Secretary for Development meant at the book exhibition was purely in the context of a book that he read. It’s in the context of a book that he read. It’s not a general comment at all, it is by no means a criticism. But he is aware of the sentiment of the colleagues in the police force. He will be in touch with them and explain the situation.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, and the Director-General of Communications, Miss Agnes Wong, on assignment arrangements of spectrum in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands for the provision of public mobile services including fifth generation (5G) mobile services at a media session in the Central Government Offices today (July 26):
 
Reporter: Why is there suddenly extra spectrum for mobile services? Does it mean that in future mobile service users can actually have more choices when they select their service providers? Secondly, about the possible assignment of the spectrum in 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands, are you saying that so long as there are few demands in the market, you will just basically give out all these spectrums free of charge?
 
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: This is part of our plan to roll out telecommunication frequency spectrums. In our plan which was announced earlier this year, we will take steps to proceed with the public consultation and later on assignment of these spectrums. What we are talking about today is that we have identified spectrums in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands for 5G development. For these spectrums, we are talking about a major volume of 4 100 MHz of spectrum to be made available for 5G. This will form the bulk of the entire 5G. At the same time, the Communications Authority also identified 200 MHz of spectrum from a lower band, the 3.3 GHz band and also the 4.9 GHz band, to supplement this. Together with the spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band that we have announced a few months ago, this is a totality and the broader picture of all the spectrum that can be made available to the operators in preparation for 5G’s coming.
 
     The reason of why these spectrums in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands are so important is that, first, it is a high-frequency band which could cater for high intensity of usage. We all know that 5G is not just for communication. It is also for Internet of Things, smart city and lots of technology applications. The spectrum in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands is the candidate or designated spectrum that International Telecommunication Union earmarked for (5G), so this is a major step forward.
 
     In addition to rolling out this very wide spectrum for 5G, we are also taking administrative assignment measures to roll this out. That means, instead of doing it through an auction, because of the abundant supply of the spectrum, we are using administrative measure to assign it to the possible operators. If the demand falls within the supply that we are talking about, these spectrums will be given to the operators for 5G. That means it will greatly reduce the cost and also shorten the time involved.
 
     Coming back to our plan released earlier this year, we are taking steps to roll out these spectrums one by one. Hopefully by early next year, we will be able to give all these spectrums to possible operators so that they can start preparations for planning and making ways to make available services to the market.
 
Reporter: Why is there now apparently a double amount of mobile spectrum?
 
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: I have answered your question right in the beginning that this is our plan to roll out the 5G (in high frequency bands). The 5G spectrum covers various bands, from the 3.5 GHz band we rolled out earlier this year to the 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands that we are now talking about, and in addition to the 3.3 GHz band and 4.9 GHz band available, so this is part of the plan. Of course, as I have explained, different spectrums may serve different purposes. It also depends on in what way we roll them out. That is part of the plan I have explained.
 
Reporter: The Director-General of Communications just now talked about another round of consultation for spectrum in the 3.3 GHz band and 4.9 GHz band. What is the timetable for that to be opened to the market? Are you saying that after the consultation, there will be another round of bidding? Do you have a timetable for those 200 MHz of spectrum?
 
Director-General of Communications: For the 3.3 GHz band and 4.9 GHz band, we will start another round of public consultation. It is because this is a new spectrum and according to our practice and policy, we should conduct a public consultation first. We will shortly issue another public consultation paper on these two bands. Our target is, hopefully, by the middle of next year, we will be able to assign the relevant spectrums. This is our working timetable.
 
Reporter: Also by assignment? Not by bidding?
 
Director-General of Communications: That will depend on the outcome of the public consultation.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more

Attention TV/radio announcers:   Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at regular intervals:        The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (July 26) that Sha Tin Jockey … read more

     Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, after attending the celebratory event for World Breastfeeding Week 2018 today (July 26): Reporter: Professor Chan, will… read more