 | This article'sfactual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. The reason given is: Ordinance significantly amended by the Protection of the Harbour (Amendment) Ordinance 2025. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(May 2025) |
| Protection of the Harbour Ordinance | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Legislative Council of Hong Kong | |
| |
| Citation | Cap. 531 |
| Enacted by | Legislative Council of Hong Kong |
| Commenced | 30 June 1997 |
| Legislative history | |
| Introduced by | HonChristine Loh Kung-wai |
| Introduced | 22 November 1996 |
| First reading | 4 December 1996 |
| Second reading | 27 June 1997 |
| Third reading | 27 June 1997 |
| Amended by | |
| 1999[1] 2025 | |
| Status: Amended | |
| Protection of the Harbour Ordinance | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 保護海港條例 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 保护海港条例 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
TheProtection of the Harbour Ordinance, Cap. 531 (Chinese:保護海港條例) is an ordinance inHong Kong Law that aims to limitland reclamation in the surviving waters ofVictoria Harbour.
In section 3, the ordinance states that:
The ordinance was proposed by theSociety for Protection of the Harbour in 1996 and presented to theLegislative Council byChristine Loh. The bill was passed on 27 June 1997 and applied to the area of the harbour aroundCentral, Hong Kong. On 3 November 1999, the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands moved for an amendment to the ordinance, which extended it to the entire area of Victoria Harbour as defined by Schedule 3 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1).[3]
The Government proposed theCentral and Wan Chai Reclamation project in the 1980s, long before the inception of the ordinance. When the ordinance was passed, the first phases for Central andWan Chai were already near completion. The ordinance does not affect those projects, however, since Section 4 permits grandfathering of projects authorized prior to the ordinances commencement.[4] However, when the Government later planned to start the remaining phases of the reclamation, conservationists saw the ordinance as a means to stop the projects.
TheSociety for Protection of the Harbour applied for a stay of order and judicial review on September 25, 2003, prohibiting the government from continuing the third phase of the Central reclamation project.
The SPH requested judicial reviews on 27 February 2003 and 25 September 2003, respectively. On 6 October 2003, the High Court rejected the Society's bid to provisionally halt work. Thus, the Government proceeded with its work to fill 230,000 square metres (2,500,000 sq ft) of the harbour.
On 1 September 2004, the Court of Final Appeal rejected the Town Planning Board's proposal on the draft Wan Chai North Outline Zoning Plan (OZP); further, the Wan Chai Development Phase 2 had to be reviewed.[5][6]
On 8 July 2003, Madam Justice Chu of theHigh Court laid down three tests for the presumptions outlined in Section 3.1 of the ordinance, which were:
The tests are carried out on a per-case basis, on the project-in-question's purpose and extent. Thus, the Government and those concerned often cite the three tests to justify (or deny) reclamation projects that are being planned.[3][7]
The full text ofProtection of the Harbour Ordinance at Wikisource