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Reference.
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Mr Laine
Hong Kong and Indian Ocean Dept
HONG KONG AND THE GATT
1.
2.
Mr Rushford has asked me to look at this problem.
In this minute I shall deal only with the legal problems relating to the GATT raised in Miss Elliott's letter, and not go into the Cotton Textile Committee problem, or the "practical" problem, raised at the meeting on 27 April.
3.
This minute is based on two assumptions. Firstly, that Hong Kong is a customs territory within the definition in ArticleXXIV:2 of the General Agreement
And on Tariffs and Trade (the General Agreement). secondly, that it is a customs territory in respect of which the United Kingdom has acceded to the
If these General Agreement under Article XXVI: 5(a). two assumptions are correct, Hong Kong, exclusively for the purposes of the territorial application of the General Agreement, is "treated as though it were a contracting party; provided that the provisions of this paragraph shall not be construed to create any rights or obligations as between two or more customs territories in respect of which this Agreement has been accepted under Article XXVI or is being applied under Article XXXIII or pursuant to the Protocol of Provisional Application by a single contracting party." (Article XXIV:1)..
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those
4: The effect of this provision is that the United Kingdom has two distinct bundles of rights and obligations vis à vis other contracting parties: in respect of the United Kingdom metropolitan customs. territory, and those in respect of the liong Kong customs territory. Hong Kong can have no obligations under international law, since it has no international personality, and it would seem that the proviso to Article XXIV:1 was merely added ex abundente cautela. Had the proviso not been included, the position would have been unchanged, since it is difficult to see that rights and obligations under any system of law anld exist between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong by virtue of the General Agreement.
5. The United Kingdom's rights and obligations under the General Agreement in respect of the Hong Kong customs territory will be unaffected by the United Kingdom's accession to the European Communities. (This is also the case with the United Kingdom's rights and obligations in respect of the United Kingdom metropolitan customs territory, though the United Kingdom Schedule will have to be gradually aligned with those of other members of the EEC.)
6.
Accession to the General Agreement is governed by Article XXXIII (although for new States there is the alternative of Article XXVI:5(c)). Article XXXIII
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DD 737719 357664 500M 2/7) GM 3643/2