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Advisory Committee on Post-service Employment of Civil Servants
Guidelines on the Mode of Operation

The Committee

The Advisory Committee on Post-service Employment of Civil Servants (ACPE) is an independent advisory committee appointed by the Chief Executive to advise on all applications for post-service outside work from directorate civil servants. Applications are referred by the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) to the ACPE, which tenders advice to the Secretary for the Civil Service who is the authority to approve or reject applications.

Composition

2. The ACPE consists of a Chairman and eight Members. They are unofficials and appointed on an ad personam basis. The ACPE considers and advises on applications through meetings or by circulation of papers. The quorum for an ACPE meeting is two-thirds of the total membership (i.e. six). In case the Chairman is not available to chair a meeting, the chairmanship of the meeting will be taken over by an acting chairman elected among Members present.

3. Secretariat support for the ACPE is provided by the Joint Secretariat for the Advisory Bodies on Civil Service and Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service (JSSCS).

Underlying Principles and Policy Objective

4. The control regime1 governing the taking up of post-service outside work by directorate civil servants is underpinned by two principles, namely, protection of the public interest and protection of an individual's right to work. The particular public interest to be protected is public trust in the Government, good governance, and integrity and impartiality of the Civil Service. Protection of such public interest will only take precedence over protection of an individual's right to work where there is compelling reason justifying so doing in a particular case.

1 The control regime currently in force applies to directorate civil servants on pensionable/new permanent terms who cease active duty on or after 1 September 2011, and directorate civil servants on agreement terms who enter into new or renewal agreements on or after 1 September 2011.

5. The policy objective of the control regime is therefore to ensure that -

  • directorate civil servants on final leave or former directorate civil servants will not take up work during the prescribed restriction periods which may –
    • constitute real or potential conflict of interest with their former government duties, or
    • cause well-founded negative public perception embarrassing the Government and undermining the image of the Civil Service, or give rise to reasonable apprehension of deferred reward or benefit by a fair-minded and informed observer after having considered the relevant facts;
  • the said individuals' right to work after ceasing government service will not be unduly restricted; and

  • the attractiveness of the Civil Service as a career will not be adversely affected and that limited human resources will be put to good use.

Conduct of Business

6. An application for post-service outside work by a directorate civil servant is received and processed by CSB. Upon completion of the internal assessment of the application, CSB will submit it together with the views of the relevant parties within the Government to the Secretariat of the ACPE for advice.

7. Upon receiving the application from CSB, the ACPE will consider it at a meeting or by circulation of papers as necessary.

Declaration of Conflict of Interest

8. The Chairman and Members are subject to a set of rules on declaration of interest. They are required to disclose their general pecuniary and other interest on appointment and annually thereafter, in addition to reporting conflicts of interest as and when they arise. They are also required to keep confidential the applications considered and the discussions held as personal data and sensitive information are involved.

9. If an interest is considered by a Member (including the Chairman) himself/herself, or after consultation with the Chairman (as appropriate), to justify his/her refraining from offering advice on an application, he/she will return the paper to the Secretariat with a note on the interest declared. If a meeting is to be held to discuss applications, he/she will not attend the discussion for the item in question. When a known direct pecuniary interest exists for a Member, the Secretariat may withhold circulation of relevant papers to the Member concerned and not involve the Member in the subsequent consideration of the application. If the Chairman declares an interest, any meeting or discussion on the application will be chaired by an acting chairman to be elected among Members present.

Assessment Criteria

10. In examining an application, the ACPE will consider and tender advice on the application, having regard to the underlying principles and policy objective described in paragraphs 4 and 5 above, the views of the assessment parties within the Government, as well as the following key considerations -

  • the duties and responsibilities of the applicant during his/her last six years (for a D4 to D8 (or equivalent) civil servant) or three years (for a D1 to D3 (or equivalent) civil servant) of government service. Where necessary, a longer period of service history will be considered;

  • whether the applicant, while in the above specified period of government service, had been involved in the formulation of any policy or decisions, the effects of which directly or specifically benefited or could directly or specifically benefit his/her own business or his/her prospective employer;

  • whether the applicant or his/her prospective employer might gain an unfair advantage over competitors concerned because of the applicant's access to sensitive information while in the above specified period of government service;

  • whether the applicant, while in the above specified period of government service, had been involved in any contractual or legal dealings to which the prospective employer was a party;

  • whether the applied-for work would have any connection with the assignments/projects and/or regulatory/enforcement duties in which the applicant had been involved while in the above specified period of government service;

  • whether the applicant's taking up of the applied-for work would give rise to well-founded public suspicion of conflict of interest or other impropriety;

  • whether a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the relevant facts, would conclude that the applied-for work might give rise to reasonable apprehension of deferred reward or benefit; and

  • whether any aspects of the applied-for work would cause well-founded negative public perception embarrassing the Government and undermining the image of the Civil Service.

Invitation of Outside Experts and Government Officials to ACPE Meetings

11. The ACPE may invite outside experts in the relevant fields to assist in its consideration of individual applications if necessary. Every effort will be made to ensure that the selection process is fair and impartial (e.g. inviting the relevant professional bodies for nominations). Sensitive information will not normally be disclosed to the invited outside experts (e.g. an applicant's identity, his/her prospective employer, the remuneration for his/her applied-for appointment, etc.) Besides, the invited outside experts will have to undertake to respect the confidentiality of the discussions at meetings. The ACPE may also invite government officials who have participated in the assessment of applications to its meetings to explain or clarify their views. All views of the invitees are for the ACPE's reference only.

Conditions of Approval

12. To address concerns over conflict of interest and public perception, the ACPE will include in its advice the imposition of the following standard work restrictions on all applicants whose applications are recommended for approval -

  • they will not directly or indirectly be involved in the bidding for any government land, property, projects, contracts or franchises;

  • they will not directly or indirectly undertake or represent any person in any work including any litigation or lobbying activities that are connected in any way with the formulation of any policy or decisions, sensitive information, contractual or legal dealings, assignments or projects, and enforcement or regulatory duties in which they had been involved or to which they had access during their last three years of service; and

  • they will not directly or indirectly engage in any activities which will cause embarrassment to the Government or bring disgrace to the Civil Service.
13. Besides, the ACPE may recommend, where necessary, imposing additional conditions on an application-specific basis.

Advice Tendered

14. The advice tendered by the ACPE on approved and taken-up post-service work by all directorate civil servants subject to the control regime set out in CSB Circular No. 7/2011 will be included in the public register maintained by CSB. The register is posted on CSB's website (http://www.csb.gov.hk).

Annual Reports

15. The Chairman of the ACPE will submit a report on the Committee's work to the Chief Executive annually. The annual reports will be tabled in the Legislative Council (LegCo) by CSB and distributed to the LegCo library. They will be uploaded on JSSCS' website.

Advisory Committee on Post-service Employment of Civil Servants
June 2019