Hong Kong Ordinances

PENSION BENEFITS (JUDICIAL OFFICERS) ORDINANCE - SECT 26

Commuted pension gratuity and reduced pension

(Past version on 30/06/1997).

Adaptation amendments retroactively made - see 26 of 1999 s. 3

(1) Subject to subsections (5) and (8), an officer to whom a pension is to be
granted under this Ordinance, other than a pension under section 14 and an
additional pension under section 15, shall, if he has exercised his option in
accordance with subsections (2) and (3) of this section, be paid, in lieu of
that pension or aggregate of the pensions, a reduced pension at the rate of
50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90 or 95% of the pension, or a similar
percentage of the aggregate of the pensions, according to the option
exercised, together with a commuted pension  gratuity equal to 14 times the
amount of the reduction so made in the annual pension or aggregate annual
pensions.

(2) The option referred to in subsection (1) shall be exercised, and if it has
been exercised may be revoked, not later than the day immediately preceding
the date of the officer's retirement or, in the case of a deferred pension,
not later than the date immediately preceding the date on which the officer
attains the age when the deferred pension is payable under section 8(1)(a);
but the Chief Executive may, if it appears to him equitable in all the
circumstances so to do, allow an officer in any particular case to exercise
the option, or revoke an option previously exercised, at any time between that
date and the actual date when the pension or aggregate pensions is payable for
the first time. (Amended 26 of 1999 s. 3)

(3) The option referred to in subsection (1) shall-

   (a)  be in writing addressed to the Director of Accounting Services; and

   (b)  state the rate of the reduced pension, in accordance with that
        subsection, in the annual pension or aggregate of the annual pension,
        and the date of the exercise of the option shall be deemed to be the
        date on which the Director of Accounting Services receives the option.

(4) Except as may be provided under subsection (2), an option exercised under
that subsection is irrevocable.

(5) An officer who dies before exercising an option under subsection (1) but
after he has retired shall be deemed to have exercised the option to reduce
his pension or aggregate pensions by 50% and the commuted pension gratuity and
reduced pension shall be paid in accordance with subsection (1).

(6) Subject to subsections (7) and (8), a commuted pension gratuity is
payable-

   (a)  in case the relevant pension is a deferred pension, when that pension
        is payable under section 8 for the first time;

   (b)  in case a direction is given by the Chief Executive under section 7(2)
        in relation to the relevant pension, when that pension would be
        payable for the first time if it were a deferred pension; (Amended 26
        of 1999 s. 3)

   (c)  in any other case, when the relevant reduced pension is payable under
        this Ordinance for the first time.

(7) Where the Chief Executive directs that a particular commuted 
pension gratuity shall be payable on a date that is earlier than the day on
which the gratuity would otherwise be payable under subsection (6), that
commuted pension gratuity is payable on the specified date. (Amended 26 of
1999 s. 3)

(8) Where an officer retires in accordance with a compensation  scheme, the
reduced pension and the commuted pension gratuity shall be computed, and is
payable, in accordance with the compensation scheme applicable to the officer.
(Enacted 1988)