### Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance 《調查委員會條例》

1. Short title
This Ordinance may be cited as the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance.

2. Appointment of Commission
(1) The Chief Executive in Council may appoint one or more Commissioners (hereinafter referred to as a Commission

3. Directions to Commission
The Chief Executive in Council may specify the subject of the inquiry and may direct— (Amended 25 of 1998 s. 2)
(a) when and where the inquiry is to be held, to whom and by what time a report thereon is to be rendered, and may from time to time enlarge the time within which such inquiry is to be held and such report rendered;
(b) without prejudice to the powers of the Commission to receive and consider such other evidence as it may think fit, what material should be received and considered by the Commission;
(c) what matters should be outside the terms of reference of the Commission;
(d) that the evidence of certain persons or classes of persons be taken, either orally or in writing, and that certain documents or classes of documents be inspected by the Commission;
(e) without prejudice to the powers conferred upon the Commission by section 4(1)(i), that the holding of the inquiry or parts thereof be in camera; (Amended 49 of 1976 s. 2)
(f) that the Commissioners take the oath or affirmation in the form set out in the Schedule; and (See Form 1)

4. Powers of Commission
(1) The Commission may, for the purpose of complying with the directions issued under section 3 and for conducting the inquiry generally—
(a) receive and consider any material whether by way of oral evidence, written statements, documents or otherwise, notwithstanding that such material would not be admissible as evidence in civil or criminal proceedings;
(b) determine the manner in which such material shall be received and what persons or class of persons shall be permitted or required to give evidence:
Provided that the contents of any document submitted to the Commission, not being of a scurrilous or offensive nature, shall be considered by the Commission, notwithstanding that the person submitting such document is, in addition, permitted or required to give evidence;(c) require any person who wishes to give evidence before the Commission to submit a summary in writing of the evidence proposed to be given;
(d) summon any person in the form set out in the Schedule to attend to give evidence or to produce any article or document; (See Form 2)

### Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance 《調查委員會條例》

5. Conduct of inquiry
Without derogating from the generality of the power conferred under section 4(1)(m) the Commission may— (Amended 49 of 1976 s. 4)
(a) order the manner in which any person shall give his oral evidence and may specify that this shall be by way of cross-examination without any examination-in-chief; and (Amended E.R. 4 of 2019)
(b) determine who may address the Commission, on what matters and in what order.

6. Right to representation
(1) Any person whose conduct is the subject of an inquiry, or who is implicated or concerned in the subject matter of the inquiry, shall, subject to the provisions of section 4, be entitled to be represented by a barrister or solicitor at the inquiry.
(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), the Commission shall determine whether the conduct of any person is the subject of the inquiry or whether a person is in any way implicated or concerned in the subject matter of the inquiry.
(3) The Chief Executive, any Government department and any public officer shall, notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) but subject to the provisions of section 4, be entitled to be represented at the inquiry by a legal officer, or by a barrister or solicitor who may— (Amended 25 of 1998 s. 2)
(a) address the Commission on any matter on which he is so instructed by the Chief Secretary for Administration or by the Secretary for Justice; and (Amended L.N. 226 of 1976; L.N. 362 of 1997; E.R. 4 of 2019)
(b) produce evidence in such form as the Commission may permit on any matter.
(4) The Commission may appoint a legal officer nominated by the Secretary for Justice, a barrister or a solicitor to act as counsel for the Commission. (Amended L.N. 362 of 1997)

7. Use of evidence in civil and criminal proceedings
Evidence given by any person before the Commission shall not be admissible against him in any civil or criminal proceedings by or against him, except where he is charged with any offence under Part V (Perjury) of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) or is proceeded against under section 8 or 9.

### Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance 《調查委員會條例》

7A. Production of documents, and evidence, to Commission’s inspectors
(1) It shall be the duty of all officers and agents of a public body or other body of persons to produce to an inspector appointed under section 4(1)(ma) to inspect its books and documents, all books and documents in their custody or power of or relating to such body’s affairs or the affairs of any other body of persons the books and documents of which the inspector is appointed under section 4(1)(ma) to inspect, and otherwise to give to the inspector all assistance that they are reasonably able to give.
(2) In this section, any reference to officers or to agents of a public body or other body of persons shall include past, as well as present, officers or agents, as the case may be, and for the purposes of this section agents (代理人) shall include the bankers and solicitors of such body and any person employed by such body as auditor, whether such person is or is not an officer of such body.
(Added 49 of 1976 s. 5)