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Safeguarding National Security Ordinance

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(3) In deciding whether to make an order under subsection (2), the magistrate must consider the need for the case to be handled in a fair and timely manner.

106. Preliminary inquiries dispensed with

(1) Subsection (2) applies in place of sections 80C, 81, 81A, 82, 83, 84 and 85 of Cap. 227.

(2) When the accused appears or is brought before a magistrate on the return day—

(a) the prosecutor must, if the requirements of section 80B(1) of Cap. 227 are satisfied, hand into court the originals of the documents referred to in that section; and

(b) the magistrate must, after an application is made by or on behalf of the Secretary for Justice, take the action under section 80C(4) of Cap. 227, and if the accused then pleads not guilty to the charge, the magistrate must order that the accused stand committed for trial in the Court of First Instance, and inform the accused of this fact or cause the accused to be informed of this fact.

(3) Accordingly—

(a) in applying section 80A of Cap. 227—

(i) subsections (4)(c) and (d) of that section must be disregarded; and

(ii) subsection (4)(e) of that section is to be read as requiring that the magistrate must, on first appointing the return day, inform the accused of the matters mentioned in subsection (4) of this section;