CONFIDENTIAL
In
order
therefore to
with the United Kingdom.
avoid massive
changes in the law on 1 July 1997 Hong Kong proposes to embark at once upon a legislative programme to "localise" Hong
to "localise" Hong Kong's laws and
establish a set of self-contained Hong Kong laws free from any
connection with the UK. This section of the Bill will give HMG and
Hong Kong the power to achieve their objective. As part of this process it will thus be possible for Hong Kong to adopt laws free
from the restraints of the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865, and to
legislate with
extra-territorial effect. Any new Hong Kong laws
will continue to be subject to disallowance by HMG and to other
controls imposed by the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions.
This section also enables HMG to make consequential amendments to
the law of the UK and of dependent territories which are not part of
the law of Hong Kong, but which relate to Hong Kong. This will be necessary for instance in relation to the abolition of appeals to
the Privy Council and to give a greater degree of autonomy
autonomy to Hong
Kong in civil aviation matters by amending the Civil Aviation Act of
1982.
intention of the Chinese
Law before 1990).
We do not yet know what repeals or amendments will be necessary
under each of these categories, nor will we know finally until we
have seen the Basic Law. (The present
Government is to promulgate the Basic therefore need the widest possible power s to make Orders in Council
under this section.
So as
We
Ол
Paragraph 3(1) enables Her Majesty by Order in Council (or the Hong
Kong legislature if so
so authorised by Order in Council) to
to repeal or
amend any UK Act, order, rule or regulation in
SO far as it is part of the law of Hong Kong, if it appears necessary or expedient to do
a result of or in connection with the termination
sovereignty and jurisdiction. This section will enable HMG and the Hong Kong legislature to
to localise the laws of Hong Kong, in SO far
as they currently take the form of UK statutes which apply as part
of the law of Hong Kong. Although this section gives the Hong Kong
legislature the power so to amend UK enactments, it would of course hands in the case of a dispute with Hong Kong to refuse to
be in
CONFIDENTIAL