Article 2 Interpretation

In this Order (including the Schedule):

“specified officer” means:

• “basic pension” and “basic Hong Kong pension” mean:

  1. (a)

     the pension first awarded to a specified officer with effect from the date of his retirement and calculated by reference to his emoluments, or which would have been so awarded had it commenced on that date; or, if the pension is deferred, the amount that would have been awarded as so calculated had the pension commenced on the date of his retirement;

  2. (b)

     in the case of a pension in respect of the services of any person other than the pensioner, the pension first awarded,

  without in either case, any addition or increases howsoever awarded (whether or not included in the amount of the original award);

• “death gratuity” has the meaning ascribed to it in the relevant law;

• “Hong Kong” means the Colony of Hong Kong or the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and references to service in or of Hong Kong, and the Government of Hong Kong, refer respectively to service in, and the Government of, the Colony or the Special Administrative Region;

• “gratuity” means a lump sum paid under a relevant law as a gratuity, together with a reduced pension, in lieu of a full pension, or as a death gratuity; and this Order shall be construed in respect of a death gratuity as if the deceased officer were entitled to the death gratuity and the gratuity were payable at a place appointed by his legal personal representatives;

• “pension” means a pension (including an injury pension), whether full, reduced or deferred, which is granted under a relevant law;

• “pensioner” means a specified officer, or a dependant of a specified officer, who is in receipt of a pension;

• “relevant law” means:

  • the Pensions Ordinance^f1;

  • the Pension Benefits Ordinance^f2;

  • the Pension Benefits (Judicial Officers) Ordinance^f3;

  • the Police Officers (Special Cases) Pensions Ordinance^f4;

  • the Widows and Orphans Pension Ordinance^f5;

  • the Surviving Spouses’ and Children’s Pensions Ordinance^f6,

  of Hong Kong (and the regulations made under those ordinances), including any law amending such a law up to the date on which this Order comes into force, and any other law of Hong Kong recognised by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this Order;

• “relevant law”, in relation to any pensioner or person entitled to a gratuity means the relevant law under which he is granted, or is entitled to, such benefit.

Where any calculation is to be made under this Order in accordance with the relevant law and that relevant law is amended after the coming into force of this Order by a law other than a law recognised for the purposes of this Order by the Secretary of State, the calculation shall be made in accordance with the relevant law as if it had not been so amended.

Nothing in paragraph (2) applies to the determination of the actual pension income of a pensioner or the determination of an actual gratuity, and in relation to such determination, the definition of relevant law in paragraph (1) shall be read as if the words “up to the date on which this Order comes into force and any other law of Hong Kong recognised by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this Order” were omitted.