### Occupational Deafness (Compensation) Ordinance 《職業性失聰(補償)條例》

6. Establishment of Occupational Deafness Compensation Fund
(1) There is established an Occupational Deafness Compensation Fund which consists of—
(a) moneys received by the Board from the Employees’ Compensation Insurance Levies Management Board;
(b) any moneys provided by the Government for the purposes of the Fund; and
(c) any other moneys and property, including gifts, donations, interests and accumulation of income received by the Board.
(2) The Fund is vested in the Board.

7. Government payments
(1) The Government shall each year make payments to the Board for the benefit of the Fund out of moneys appropriated for that purpose by the Legislative Council.
(2) The Government’s payment under subsection (1) is ascertained as follows—

Government payment = A × B ×   C      D   
where—
“A” is the levy received or receivable by the Employees’ Compensation Insurance Levies Management Board under Part IV of the Employees’ Compensation Insurance Levies Ordinance (Cap. 411);
“B” is the proportion of the net resources of the Employees’ Compensation Insurance Levies Management Board specified in the third column of Schedule 2 to the Employees’ Compensation Insurance Levies Ordinance (Cap. 411) to be distributed to the Occupational Deafness Compensation Board under section 7(1) of that Ordinance;
“C” is the number of employees in the civil service sector;
“D” is the total number of employees in Hong Kong, excluding the number of employees in the civil service sector.

8. Payments by the Board from the Fund
The Board shall pay from the Fund—
(a) compensation;
(aa) reimbursement of expenses; (Added 16 of 2003 s. 6)
(b) any sum payable under section 27;
(c) (Repealed 5 of 1998 s. 4)(d) costs of hearing tests and medical examinations arranged by the Board under section 16;
(e) any other expenses incurred by the Board in the performance of its functions or exercise of its powers under this Ordinance; and
(f) any other sums required or permitted to be paid by the Board under this Ordinance.

9. Investment of funds
The Board may deal with the funds of the Board that are not immediately required in the following manner—
(a) by depositing them on fixed term or call deposit or in a savings account in any bank within the meaning of the Banking Ordinance (Cap. 155); or
(b) subject to the prior approval of the Financial Secretary, by investing them in such investments as the Board thinks fit.

### Occupational Deafness (Compensation) Ordinance 《職業性失聰(補償)條例》

10. Director of Audit’s examination
(1) The Director of Audit may carry out such examination as he thinks fit into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Board has used its resources in performing its functions and exercising its powers.
(2) The Director of Audit has a right of access at all reasonable times to all such documents in the custody or under the control of the Board as he may reasonably require for the purpose of carrying out any examination under subsection (1) and is entitled to require from any person holding or accountable for any such document such information and explanations (if any) as are reasonably necessary for that purpose.
(3) The Director of Audit may submit to the President of the Legislative Council a report in respect of any examination carried out under subsection (1).
(4) Subsection (1) does not give the Director of Audit the right to question the merits of any of the Board’s policy objectives.

11. Statements and reports to be laid on table of Legislative Council
The Board shall, within 9 months after the end of each financial year or such longer period as the Chief Executive may determine, submit— (Amended 16 of 2003 s. 8)
(a) a report on the activities and affairs of the Board for that year;
(b) a copy of the statements of the accounts therefor; and
(c) the auditor’s report on the accounts prepared under section 12(3) of Schedule 1,
to the Chief Executive who shall cause them to be laid on the table of the Legislative Council.
(Amended 16 of 2003 s. 8)

12. Appointment of Medical Committee
(1) The Secretary shall appoint a committee to be known as the “Occupational Deafness Medical Committee”. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)
(2) Schedule 2 has effect with respect to the Medical Committee.

### Occupational Deafness (Compensation) Ordinance 《職業性失聰(補償)條例》

13. Functions of Medical Committee
The functions of the Medical Committee are—
(a) to recommend to the Board hearing tests and medical examinations to be performed generally and in any particular case for the diagnosis and assessment of noise-induced deafness for the purpose of this Ordinance;
(b) to recommend to the Board audiological facilities and calibration methods to be used in such hearing tests and medical examinations;
(c) to recommend to the Board places where hearing tests under section 15(2) can be performed;
(d) to advise the Board under section 19 or 27E(3)(b)(i); (Amended 5 of 1998 s. 5; 16 of 2003 s. 9)
(da) to recommend to the Board categories of persons that may be designated under section 36(1)(e); and (Added 16 of 2003 s. 9)
(e) (Repealed 5 of 1998 s. 5)(f) to advise the Board generally on the medical, technical and professional aspects of any matter relating to the performance of the Board’s functions.

14. Entitlement to compensation for the first time
(Amended 6 of 2010 s. 5)(1) Subject to subsections (3) and (4) and sections 17 and 29, a person who suffers noise-induced deafness is entitled to such compensation as determined by the Board under this Ordinance if he also satisfies the Board that he fulfils the conditions specified in subsection (2).
(2) The conditions referred to in subsection (1) are—
(a) (i) that he has had at least 10 years of employment in aggregate in any noisy occupation in Hong Kong before the date of the relevant application under section 15; or
(ii) that he has had at least 5 years of employment in aggregate in any noisy occupation specified in paragraphs (c), (j), (k) and (y) of Schedule 3 in Hong Kong before the date of the relevant application under section 15; (Replaced 5 of 1998 s. 6)
(b) subject to subsection (4), that he has at any time been employed under a continuous contract in any noisy occupation in Hong Kong—
(i) within the 72 months before the commencement* of this Part; or
(ii) within the 12 months before the date of his relevant application under section 15; (Amended 5 of 1998 s. 6)
(c) he has not been awarded any compensation; and (Amended 5 of 1998 s. 6)
(d) if he has previously made an application for compensation for which the entitlement arose under this section (previous application