Hong Kong Ordinances

DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ORDINANCE - SECT 82

Period within which proceedings to be brought

(Past version on 01/07/1997).
(Past version on 30/06/1997).

Period within which proceedings to be brought

(1) The District Court shall not consider a claim under section 72 unless
proceedings in respect of the claim are instituted before the end of the
period of 24 months beginning-

   (a)  when the act complained of was done; or

   (b)  if there is a relevant report in relation to that act, with the day on
        which the report is published or made available for inspection under
        section 69, whichever is the later.

(2) The District Court shall not consider an application under-

   (a)  section 78(2)(a) unless it is made before the end of the period of 24
        months beginning when the act to which it relates was done;

   (b)  section 78(4) unless it is made before the end of the period of 5
        years so beginning.

(2A) For the purposes of determining the period under subsection

(1) within which proceedings may be brought, where an act to which the claim
relates was the subject of a complaint lodged under section 80(1), then the
period that elapsed between the date when the complaint was lodged and the
date when the complaint was disposed of under section 80(3) or (4), as
certified in writing by the Commission, shall be disregarded. (Added 71 of
1997 s. 13. Amended 29 of 2008 s. 102)

(3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), the District Court may consider
any claim or application which is out of time if, in all the circumstances of
the case, it considers that it is just and equitable to do so.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), the circumstances of the case include,
in relation to any claim, whether the act to which the claim relates was the
subject of a complaint lodged under section 80(1) and, if so, the period that
elapsed between when the act was done and when that complaint was so lodged.

(5) For the purposes of this section-

   (a)  where the inclusion of any term in a contract renders the making of
        the contract an unlawful act, that act shall be treated as extending
        throughout the duration of the contract;

   (b)  any act extending over a period shall be treated as done at the end of
        that period; and

   (c)  a deliberate omission shall be treated as done when the person
        concerned decided upon it, and, in the absence of evidence to the
        contrary, a person shall be taken for the purposes of this section to
        decide upon an omission when he does an act inconsistent with doing
        the omitted act or, if he has done no such inconsistent act, when the
        period expires within which he might reasonably have been expected to
        do the omitted act if it was to be done.

(6) The Chief Executive in Council may, by notice in the Gazette, amend
subsection (1) by substituting a longer period for the period specified in
that subsection. (Amended 66 of 1999 s. 3)

(7) In this section, "relevant report" (有關報告), in relation to an act
referred to in subsection (1), means a report-

   (a)  published or made available for inspection under section 69; and

   (b)  from which it can reasonably be construed (and whether or not the
        report mentions, or was in any way prepared in consequence of, the
        act) that the Commission is of the opinion that the act, or the class
        of acts to which the act belongs, is unlawful under a provision of
        Part III, IV or V. (Enacted 1995)

"relevant report" (有關報告)