Civil servants joining the Government from July 1 will need to make a written declaration that they will uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip made the statement when speaking to reporters at the Legislative Council today.

“Basically for those recruits joining the Government on or after July 1 this year, we would make arrangements for them to make a written declaration, and this will be part of the conditions for their employment.

“For serving civil servants, we are following the established mechanism and in the process of consulting the major civil service staff unions and also our colleagues.”

Mr Nip added that the requirement for civil servants to take an oath or make a written declaration is a manifestation of their established responsibilities.

“There is nothing new. These responsibilities are set out in Article 99 of the Basic Law and the Civil Service Code.

“It is also consistent with the National Security Law, particularly Article 6. So we introduce this requirement, we hope that through this requirement there could be a manifestation of the civil service's responsibility to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR, and also enable colleagues to be more aware of this responsibility.”