-5A B A question about access for Internet media, in response to which the B Secretary said the arrangements would be reviewed from time to time. In C C February 2016, the Applicant lodged a complaint with the Secretary D E regarding access to the press session by the Chief Executive on 27 October 2015 and the New Territories East Legislative Council By-Election on 28 February 2016. F 10. H I E Eventually the Applicant filed a complaint with the Ombudsman in June 2016. G D The Ombudsman’s report issued in December 2016 was critical of the ISD’s existing practice, observed that it amounted to a blanket restriction on online media and considered that the ISD should F G H I make decisions based on the track records of each media organisation. J K Specifically, the Ombudsman recommended that ISD: (i) review as soon as possible its current practice and adopt a more open policy to keep pace J K with the times; (ii) review and relax the eligibility for GNMIS registration L M and draw up related guidelines; and (iii) pending completion of its review, be more flexible in dealing with requests from individual media L M organisations and allow them access wherever possible. N O N 11. On 11 January 2017, the Secretary in his written response to O another question from a member of the Legislative Council stated that the P Q ISD generally accepted the Ombudsman’s recommendations and was reviewing the arrangements for admission of the media and the criteria P Q for registration as a GNMIS user, and studying the feasibility of allowing R S access to online media and would strive to complete the study as soon as practicable. Implicitly it was indicated that the ISD would continue with R S its existing policy until there was an outcome of its study. This was T U V demonstrated by another incident on 28 February 2017 in which a person from an online media was refused access. T U V