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be possible in this context to deal, if necessary, with the termination of appeals to the Privy Council, including pending
cases.
(d) Grant of diplomatic privileges and immunities to the Chinese members of the Joint Liaison Group when it meets in London.
5. It is thought that no other aspects of the agreed documents will
require legislation by Act of Parliament. Land matters are the subject of local law and should not require United Kingdom legislation. Adaptation of subordinate legislation referring or applying to Hong Kong can be considered separately.
THE FORM OF THE LEGISLATION
6. The legislation must cover the subjects in (a), (c) and (d)
above. There are arguments both for and against including (b) which
is not necessary as a preliminary to ratification. On the one hand
to deal with this aspect in this Act would avoid the need for a
future independent Act to amend the BNA; such an Act could give rise
to pressures in Parliament for wider amendments to the BNA
unconnected with Hong Kong. Moreover, because of the 10 year period of validity of passports, legislation may well be necessary before
1987, to allow passports that will extend beyond 1997 to be issued
in the new form. On the other hand there is no doubt that the
nationality provisions of this agreement are its most controversial
aspects, and there is a danger that controversy about them might
delay the legislation. We cannot afford this given the time limit for ratification which had to be written into the agreement. Probably the best compromise would be to include in this Bill an
enabling clause allowing an Order-in-Council to be made at a later
date to set the regulations for the new form of British nationality envisaged. But it would have to be recognised that if the presence of such a clause in the Bill appeared likely to delay the Bill's passage unacceptably, it would have to be dropped from the Bill.
7. The proposed Bill would deal with the subjects in paragraph 4 as follows:
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