The Civil Service Bureau of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Wednesday that a test of the Basic Law, the so-called "HKSAR mini-constitution", will be included in recruitment for all civil service jobs to be advertised from Sept. 1.

Test results will not affect, however, a candidate's eligibility for applying for a civil service post, the bureau said, adding the test results will be one of the considerations to assess the suitability of a candidate.

According to the new arrangements, candidates looking for civil service jobs requiring degree or professional qualifications will need to take a written Basic Law test.

Two Basic Law written tests for prospective applicants will be held on May 24 and July 26. Holders of degree or professional qualifications and university students in their final year of studies in the 2007-08 academic year can apply to sit the tests.

After the tests the bureau will conduct Basic Law examinations every six months for prospective applicants for civil service jobs requiring degree or professional qualifications.

For non-degree or non-professional civil service jobs requiring academic qualifications of Form 5 or above, the recruiting bureau or department will incorporate the assessment of Basic Law knowledge in the written test for that particular job.

Where there is no written test for the job, the recruiting entity will conduct a written assessment on the Basic Law immediately before or after the recruitment interview.

Participants of written tests will be informed of their results, which are of permanent validity. Holders of test results will be exempted from sitting the Basic Law written test again when applying for other civil service jobs.

For civil service jobs requiring academic qualification below Form 5, candidates will not need to go through a written Basic Law test. Instead they will be tested orally on simple aspects of the Basic Law during recruitment interviews.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 20, 2008)