Hong Kong e-Legislation set to be only government legislation website

     Hong Kong e-Legislation (HKeL) will be the only government legislation website from July 1, 2018, following the discontinuation of the previous Bilingual Laws Information System (BLIS) website on the same date, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice (DoJ) said today (May 25). 
      
     HKeL was launched in February 2017. To facilitate the transition from BLIS to HKeL, the two websites have been running in parallel. After consulting the HKeL Liaison Group and considering the views of the legal profession, it has been decided that BLIS will discontinue service on July 1, 2018.
      
     The spokesperson said, "We have been giving advance notice on the decommissioning of BLIS through various channels since December 2017. To assist our users in transitioning to the HKeL regime, we have published user's guides on how to perform basic BLIS functions in HKeL and how to maintain printed copies of legislation. Briefing sessions on HKeL and its advance functionalities have also been arranged for members of the legal profession.

     "We are committed to improving and enhancing the functionality and user-friendliness of HKeL. Since its launch, we have introduced a number of enhancements, for example, the Chapter Number Index was enhanced so that users could conveniently download PDF copies of different chapters using the Index. A progress bar was also added to the 'view legislation' page to show users the loading progress of a chapter.
      
     "Further enhancements will be introduced in the coming months to facilitate quicker and easier access to legislation."
      
     The spokesperson added that the HKeL website marks a new milestone in the Government's efforts to facilitate public access to information on legislation. The Government will continue to listen to the views of users to enhance HKeL for the benefit of the general public and the legal profession.