Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Penal construction of fiscal statutes
  • 6 Feb 2007

    SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. HONG KONG CABLE TELEVISION LTD

    Citation
    SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. HONG KONG CABLE TELEVISION LTD
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCA1398/2005

    The court held that the transitional provision must be read so that subscription royalty is calculated by applying the statutory rate to the subscriptions actually received during the effluxed part of the accounting year (1 Jan–6 Jul 2000); the Government's method of applying the annual subscriptions then prorating by days improperly averages receipts, would effectively exceed the 7.5% statutory cap and contravene s23 Cap 1 and the legislative scheme, and is therefore unlawful.