The "Foreign Domestic Helpers Case": The relevance of the NPCSC Interpretation of 1999 and the Preparatory Committee Opinion of 1996

Abstract

One of the issues raised by the Vallejos case (the Foreign Domestic Helpers Case) is to what extent, if any, the fundamental legal issues which the court was called upon to decide in this case had already been dealt with by the National People's Congress Standing Committee when it issued its first Interpretation of the Basic Law in June 1999. This article discusses the relevance to this case of the 1999 Interpretation and the Preparatory Committee's Opinion which it referred to. It suggests that these documents enable us to have a better and fuller understanding of the legislative intent behind Art 24(2) of the Basic Law. Such legislative intent is consistent with, and converges with, the common understanding of the Chinese and British Governments of the intent behind the relevant provisions in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 that correspond to Art 24(2). The intent was to set out the basic principles governing permanent resident status and right of abode in the HKSAR, and to confer on the legislature of the HKSAR a broad power and a wide margin of appreciation in implementing and elaborating such basic principles by more detailed legislative rules.