- 25 -
39. If it were the legislative intent that “unlawful means” in NSL 22 should be restricted to criminal acts, then the NPC could have easily made this intention clear by employing the term “criminal means” instead. The fact that NPC chose to use the more generic term than “criminal means” (犯罪手段) in NSL 22, in our view, is a clear indication against the defence submission. On the other hand, the defence interpretation would not only render NSL 22 unduly complex or even redundant in that it would require the prosecution to prove a crime within a crime, but would also seriously reduce the effectiveness of NSL 22 in relation to the purpose of prevention and suppression.
40. A reading of Chapter III (Offences and Penalties) as a whole did not support the defence submission:
- (1) The term “非法” appeared a total of 5 times in the whole of NSL (all of which in Chapter III) and it was variously translated as “unlawful”[1], “unlawfully”[2] and “illegally”[3]. In this regard, we noted that the NSL was enacted in Chinese only and its English translation[4] gazetted in Hong Kong was said to be “for information”. Therefore, we took into account the ordinary meaning of the original Chinese term “非法” and how it was used in the NSL. As we had already pointed out, the term “非法” in NSL 20(2) was not restricted to describe only criminal conducts. Similarly, in NSL 29(5) (Collusion with a Foreign Country or with External
