The Interception of Communications and Surveillance (ICS) Forum took place at Police Headquarters on January 24. The forum was held by the Security Bureau (SB) for officers from designated law enforcement agencies (LEAs) under the ICS Ordinance, namely the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), the Customs and Excise Department, the Immigration Department and the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Commissioner on ICS (C/ICS) Mr Azizul Rahman Suffiad was invited to speak on compliance issues to the ICS Ordinance.

Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Tang Ping-keung greeted the C/ICS at the forum and thanked him for his presence as a speaker. He also thanked the SB and the LEAs respectively for organising the event and their active participation.

The C/ICS is the oversight authority for the ICS Ordinance. The ICS (Amendment) Ordinance came into effect in 2016, providing for an express power for the C/ICS to examine protected products. This has brought about new procedures and measures to which the LEA officers have been adapting. To enhance the officers' capabilities in meeting challenges arising from the amended Ordinance, the SB, with the assistance of the Central Registry, Interception of Communications and Surveillance of the HKPF, invited the C/ICS to share the key points and related cases with the LEAs, especially frontline officers responsible for covert operations. This helped enhance their professional abilities and sensitivity in dealing with situations involving legal professional privileged information (LPP information), ensuring that the covert operations can be lawfully and properly carried out.

The forum consisted of two sessions on covert surveillance and interception. It also covered case sharing on the importance of and measures to enhance the protection of LPP information.

The forum came to an end successfully with the concluding remarks by Principal Assistant Secretary for Security Mr Andrew Tsang. He thanked the C/ICS for his invaluable sharing with the LEAs. The forum was well received by the audience.

One of the participants said, "The forum is very useful in enhancing my knowledge of the ICS Ordinance and in particular the scope and the protection of LPP information."

Another participant said, "The forum is very successful and we cherish the opportunity to exchange views with the C/ICS. I hope more similar seminars could be held in future to refresh our knowledge of the ICS Ordinance and our understanding of the compliance requirements."