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CONFIDENTIAL
DSR 11C
It will be for the Basic Law, and not the
Bill, to provide for this
continuation of
laws
to the Joint Declaration the laws of Hong Kong are to
survive the termination of British sovereignty in
provided
1997, but only if they do not contravene the Basic Law.
The latter will not be drafted by the Chinese for some
years to come, but it is reasonable to assume that it will
require the removal from the Hong Kong statute book of
any laws which appear to maintain links with the United
Kingdom. For this reason, and in order to avoid massive
and dramatic changes in the law on 1 July 1997, Hong Kong
proposes to embark at once upon a legislative programme,
the object of which will be to establish, while under
set
local ordinance, a state of self-contained Hong Kong laws.
They will thus gradually replace those UK statutes and
subordinate UK legislation which at present appli as
part of the law of Hong Kong. For this purpose it will be
necessary for Hong Kong to have the power, between
1985 and 1997, to legislate in a manner which is
inconsistent with the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 and
to legislate with extra-territorial effect. It will need
Ras to be given much the same powers as Belize as by virtue of
paragraphs 1-3 of Schedule I to the Belize Act 1981,
although from 1985 to 1997 any new Hong Kong laws will
continue to be subject to disallowance by HMG in the UK
and be subject to the other controls imposed by the Letters
Patent and Royal Instructions, unless and until those
controls should be abolished or changed.
CONFIDENTIAL
/11.
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