Paragraph 8
Delete the whole paragraph
Insert "Attempts are being made by IMCO and the ILO to develop internationally acceptable standards for officers but a solution is not yet in sight. Moreover, the position may have to be reviewed in the light of developments in the EEC, the member countries of which have similar requirements. Although therefore changes are likely in the long term, no changes for ships of British registry are likely in the immediate future. It would, technically, be possible for Hong Kong to adopt a different nationality requirement in connection with the manning of their ships from that applied to UK-registered ships. This would, however, require confirmation by Order in Council, and at a time when the still fairly recent strandings and collisions in the English Channel and elsewhere have focussed attention on systems of certification and supporting standards it would be difficult for us to contemplate the introduction of radical changes.
L
Insert new para 9
Flag of Convenience
If Mr Pao's proposals involve the conversion of the Hong Kong flag into a flag of convenience, this would involve major difficulties for HMG, for the following reasons:
(a)
The UK is party to the High Seas Convention which provides, inter alia, that a State must effectively exercise its jurisdiction and control in administrative, technical and social matters over ships flying its flag. Hong Kong would be unlikely to be able to ensure the maintenance of reasonable standards for ships and crews if empowered to establish a flag of convenience since few of the ships on her register would call at Hong Kong;
(b) Acceptance of flag of convenience registration in Hong Kong would be difficult to reconcile with the Decisions of the Consultative Shipping Group (Western Europe plus US and Japan) which met at Ministerial level in Toyko in 1971; one section of their final Decisions was critical of flags of convenience;
(c) Flags of convenience are being extensively criticised in international organisations, notably in OECD. This criticism is based largely on assumptions about low safety standards and working