Employees Compensation Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2003

The Employees Compensation Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2003 (the Amendment Ordinance) was passed by the Legislative Council on 17 December 2003. It was published in the Gazette on 24 December 2003 and came into operation on the same date.

The Amendment Ordinance seeks to introduce the following amendments to the Employees Compensation Assistance Ordinance (ECAO):

1. to make it clear that in the event of insurer insolvency, the Employees Compensation Assistance Fund Board may, having assisted employers in respect of compensation or damages, also assist employers in meeting the costs incurred by them, or ordered against them, in legal proceedings in relation to claims for compensation or damages arising from work injury happened to their employees; and
   
2. to clarify that, after the provisions relating to insurer insolvency are excised from the ECAO, the ECAO will continue to cover those claims for which the insurer has become insolvent before the date on which the excision comes into effect, irrespective of whether the employer's liability to pay compensation or damages is determined before, on or after that date.