(d) NATIONALITY
CONFIDENTIAL
As my rt hon and
and learned
Friend
has said, paragraph 2 of the Schedule
to
the Bill contains
an
to
enabling power for a subsequent Order or Orders in Council be made to give effect to the provisions of the United Kingdom
memorandum which was handed to the Chinese when the agreement
was signed on 19 December. The framework for subordinate
It will provide
virtue of such
legislation is clearly stated in the Schedule.
that British Dependent Territories citizenship cannot be
retained ог acquired on ог after 1 July 1997 by virtue of a
connection with Hon Kong and create a new form of British
nationality that may be
may be acquired by persons who are BDTCs by
connnection. In addition, provision will be
made for the avoidance of statelessness as a result of these
changes and for such amendments to nationality legislation as
are supplementary, transitional ог consequential to
to these main
purposes. In other words the content of the Order or Orders is
determined by the framework laid down in this Bill.
As
The rt hon Member for Down South has tabled an amendment which
in effect deplores the use of an Order in Council to amend
nationality legislation on the grounds that this does not
permit the detailed consideration and amendment of the
Government's proposals that enactment by Bill would afford.
my rt hon friend, the M-mber for Surrey East has said, i t
simply not possible in the time available for the enactment of
the Bill to include full details of all the legislative
amendments that will be necessary for the implementation of the
CONFIDENTIAL
is