Hong Kong Ordinances

INTERCEPTION OF COMMUNICATIONS AND SURVEILLANCE ORDINANCE - SECT 63

Code of practice

(1) The Secretary for Security shall issue a code of practice for the purpose
of providing practical guidance to officers of the departments in respect of
matters provided for in this Ordinance.

(2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the Secretary for
Security may in the code of practice specify the form of any application to be
made to a panel judge under this Ordinance.

(3) The Secretary for Security may from time to time revise the whole or any
part of the code of practice, in a manner consistent with his power to issue
the code under this section, and, unless the context otherwise requires, any
reference to the code of practice, whether in this Ordinance or otherwise, is
to be construed as a reference to the code as so revised.

(4) Any officer of a department shall, in performing any function under or for
the purposes of any provision of this Ordinance, comply with the provisions of
the code of practice.

(5) A failure on the part of any person to comply with any provision of the
code of practice—

   (a)  is for all purposes not of itself to be regarded as a failure to
        comply with any provision of this Ordinance; and

   (b)  without prejudice to paragraph (a), does not affect the validity of
        any prescribed authorization or device retrieval warrant.