The AIC goes to great length to explain that HK ATC is ICAO compliant and that all restrictions published in SIDS & STARS always apply unless specifically cancelled by ATC. Simple hey!
And then in the last paragraph the author c*cks it up completely by losing all confidence and states ATC shall, " ensure that, in all cases, level restrictions issued explicitly by ATC in airground communications shall be repeated in conjunction with subsequent level clearances in order for such level restrictions to remain in effect."
Actually, this wording is in line with my understanding of the new ICAO standard: if it's a published restriction (printed on the chart), it must still be respected even if cleared above/below it unless ATC specifically cancels the restriction. In the case of
level restrictions issued explicitly by ATC in airground communications
(in other words restrictions not published on the chart but only requested verbally by ATC), subsequent clearances must re-state the requirement in order for it to remain valid.
The main problem with this goat-fest is that, like you say, some countries apply it, some don't, and in some areas you're not even sure if the controller him/herself knows what rule applies. Instead in the UK I believe they've filed a "variation" from the above which states that if the controller uses the phraseology "climb/descend
now", it implies that any published restrictions are cancelled.
So for the poor pilot operating in and out of all these countries, the only safe thing is to query it whenever in doubt, or face a possible TCAS RA followed by "tea, no biscuits". The lack of uniformity on this issue is an incident/accident just waiting to happen, IMHO.
MD