constituting the offence of which Mr Godber is
accused in Hong Kong would not constitute an
offence under the law of this country, his
extradition for that offence is not possible.
double criminality rule was introduced in 1967 as
the result of a scheme agreed with the other
independent members of the Commonwealth.
This
The
scheme was not intended to regulate extradition
between the UK and its dependencies, but neverthe-
less the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967 applied the
rule in this context. In principle there is no
also
Lin
reason why restrictions applying to independent
Commonwealth countries over whose legislation we
Those
have no control, need extend to,dependent
territories/ where we have at least a veto on
legislation.
4. We have been asked by Hong Kong to consider
Offenders
amending the Fugitive/Act, and Sir Alastair
Blair-Kerr in his report on the second part of
this month) with
(which will
appear Cater
his Enquiry recommends such amendment of the Act.
5.
The application of the double criminality
rule to Hong Kong could be changed either by
amending the Fugitive Offenders Act, or, more
simply, by Order in Council. Moreover if the law
was amended, it is possible, depending on the
drafting, that it could be made to apply to
Mr Godber without being specifically retrospective
in form. On the analogy of extradition agreements
with foreign countries, these would normally apply
to criminals who had fled to escape prosecution
for crimes committed before the agreement came
into force.
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16.
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