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II. AMENDMENTS TO PRIMARY LEGISLATION
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2.1 In respect of the High Court, the Steering Committee has identified that, of the 150 recommendations in the Final Report, 21 require amendments to the following Ordinances -
(a) | High Court Ordinance ("HCO") (Cap. 4);
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(b) | Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance ("LARCO") (Cap. 23); and
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(c) | Arbitration Ordinance ("AO") (Cap. 341).
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2.2 These 21 recommendations are related to the following eight areas in the Final Report -
(1) | Pre-action protocols with regard to costs-only proceedings (also applicable to the District Court);
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(2) | Pleadings with regard to the defence of tender before action (also applicable to the District Court);
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(3) | Interim remedies and Mareva injunctions in aid of foreign proceedings;
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(4) | Vexatious litigants;
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(5) | Discovery (also applicable to the District Court);
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(6) | Wasted costs (also applicable to the District Court, Lands Tribunal and EC proceedings);
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(7) | Leave to Appeal (also applicable to the District Court, Lands Tribunal and EC proceedings); and
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(8) | Appeals.
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2.3 The following Annexes are attached -
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(a) | Annex A - a consultation draft of the Civil Justice (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill ("the Draft Bill"), which contains amendments for the implementation of the 21 recommendations in the High Court and those applicable to the District Court. (Amendments for the recommendations applicable to the Lands Tribunal and the EC proceedings are expected to be along the similar lines as the amendments to the HCO, and will be incorporated in the Bill in due course);
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Annex A |
(b) | Annex B - the marked-up version of the relevant statutory provisions affected by the amendments in the Draft Bill; and
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Annex B |
(c) | Annex C - a summary table setting out the 21 recommendations, the statutory provisions affected and the relevant clauses in the Draft Bill. |
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Annex C |
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