Cap 542 s 15 When Member ceases to hold office (Legislative Council Ordinance)

Contents of Section

Chapter:	542	Title:	Legislative Council Ordinance	Gazette Number:	E.R. 2 of 2012
Section:	15	Heading:	When Member ceases to hold office	Version Date:	02/08/2012

(1) A Member's office becomes vacant if the Member-

(a) resigns in accordance with section 14 or is taken to have resigned from that office in accordance with section 13; or

(b) dies; or

(c) subject to subsection (2), alters either the Member's nationality or the fact as to whether the Member has a right of abode in a country other than the People's Republic of China as declared under section 40(1)(b)(ii); or

(d) is the President and has been found under the Mental Health Ordinance (Cap 136) to be incapable, by reason of mental incapacity, of managing and administering his or her property and affairs; or (Replaced 25 of 2003 s. 4)

(e) is declared in accordance with Article 79 of the Basic Law to be no longer qualified to hold that office.

(1A) A person disqualified under subsection (1)(d) is eligible for re-election if, under the Mental Health Ordinance (Cap 136), it is subsequently found that the person has become capable of managing and administering his or her property and affairs. (Added 25 of 2003 s. 4)
(2) Subsection (1)(c) does not apply to a Member elected at an election for a functional constituency specified in section 37(3) unless the Member has declared under section 40(1)(b)(ii) that he or she has Chinese nationality or has no right of abode in a country other than the People's Republic of China and subsequently he or she-

(a) acquires a nationality other than Chinese nationality; or

(b) acquires a right of abode in a country other than the People's Republic of China.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(e), the kind of misbehaviour for which a Member may be censured under Article 79(7) of the Basic Law includes (but is not limited to) a breach of an oath given under section 40(1)(b)(iii).

Note: Article 79 of the Basic Law provides as follows:
The President of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall declare that a member of the Council is no longer qualified for the office under any of the following circumstances:

(1) When he or she loses the ability to discharge his or her duties as a result of serious illness or other reasons;

(2) When he or she, with no valid reason, is absent from meetings for three consecutive months without the consent of the President of the Legislative Council;

(3) When he or she loses or renounces his or her status as a permanent resident of the Region;

(4) When he or she accepts a government appointment and becomes a public servant;

(5) When he or she is bankrupt or fails to comply with a court order to repay debts;

(6) When he or she is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for one month or more for a criminal offence committed within or outside the Region and is relieved of his or her duties by a motion passed by two-thirds of the members of the Legislative Council present; and

(7) When he or she is censured for misbehaviour or breach of oath by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Legislative Council present.