NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
RESTRICTED
2
is a Custom's territory within the definition in
Article XXIV (2) of the General Agreement, and it is a
Custom's territory in respect of which the UK has
acceded to the General Agreement under Article XXVI:5(a)
Thus Hong Kong, "exclusively for the purposes of the
territorial application of the General Agreement," is
"treated as though it were a contracting party;
Frovided 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 Frotocol of Provisional Application by a
single contracting party". (Article XXIV:1).
Lif
The effect of this provision is that the United
Kingdom has two distinct bundles of rights and
obligations vis à vis other contracting parties:
those in respect of the United Kingdom metropolitan
customs territory, and those in respect of the Hong
Kong customs territory. Hong Kong can have no rights and
obligations under international law, since it has no
international personality. 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. Accession to the General Agreement is
governed by Article XXXIII which refers only to
governments. It is unlikely that the notion of govern-
ment would be interpreted to include the EEC (or for
that/...