The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007, which seeks to make improvements to some existing laws, will be tabled at Legislative Council on April 25. The Department of Justice said the bill will make technical upgrades to several ordinances and subsidiary legislation.

It said it would be inefficient to introduce individual bills or subsidiary legislation for each ordinance or subsidiary legislation that is to be amended. For example, in accordance with an earlier Court of Final Appeal judgment, the bill proposes to repeal section 30A (10)(b)(i) of the Bankruptcy Ordinance, in order not to unreasonably restrict the right to travel guaranteed under the Basic Law and the Bill of Rights.

It is necessary to give effect to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal's earlier judgment in a case which held that 'public order (in the law and order sense)' should be severed from 'public order (ordre public)' in sections 14(1), 14(5) and 15(2) of the Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245).

There are similar provisions in the Societies Ordinance (Cap. 151) which need to be amended as a result of that decision, it said. To reflect the abolition of the offence of suicide, it is proposed that the phrase, "killing himself or" be deleted from section 5(1) and (2) of the Homicide Ordinance.

Having regard to the comments made by the Court of Appeal in a decided case, a section of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance is to be amended to raise the maximum penalty for the offence of perverting the course of justice. The comments of the Court of Appeal in another case also prompted the proposal to extend the power to make wasted cost orders in criminal cases.

In addition, the bill proposes minor amendments to the Fixed Penalty (Criminal Proceedings), Fire Services (Installation Contractors) Regulations, Pharmacy & Poisons, Lifts & Escalators (Safety), Legal Practitioners, Rules of the High Court, Prevention of Bribery, Independent Commission Against Corruption, Interpretation & General Clauses and Certification for Employee Benefits (Chinese Medicine) (Miscellaneous Amendments) 2006 ordinances.