CONFIDENTIAL
THE NATIONALITY PROVISIONS OF THE HONG KONG ACT 1985
A DRAFT ORDER IN COUNCIL
Introduction
The Hong Kong Act 1985 (c.15) received Royal assent on
4 April 1985. It made provision for the ending of British
sovereignty and jurisdiction over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997,
in accordance with the terms of the Joint Declaration on
the Question of Hong Kong reached between Her Majesty's
Government and the Government of the People's Republic of
China (hereafter "The Chinese Government"). Paragraph 2
of the Schedule to the Act conferred power to give effect
by Order in Council to the provisions of the United Kingdom
Memorandum associated with the Joint Declaration. The
purpose of this White Paper is to present the text of a
draft Order in Council, which is at Annex 1.
2.
During the passage of the Hong Kong Bill Her
Majesty's Government gave two undertakings concerning the
Parliamentary handling of the proposed Order. The first
was that it would be made within a year of the passing of
the Bill, subject only to Parliament's own agreement
(Official Report: Volume 71, Number 43, Column 735;
Volume 460, Number 46, Column 484). The second was that
in view of the constitutional significance of the Order it
should be subject to more extended Parliamentary scrutiny
than a usual procedure for making Order in Council,
that is the affirmative resolution procedure allows
(Official Report: Volume 72, Number 56, Column 1069;
Her Majesty Volume 460, Number 46, Column 503). It is the Government's
intention to provide time for debates in both Houses on this
White Paper and the annexed draft Order before the draft
Order is re-presented for approval by each House of
Parliament under the affirmative resolution procedure. Her Majesty's
*
Government will take careful note of points raised in
*Orders to be made by affirmative resolution require Parliamentis made.
positive approval, usually following a 1 hour debate Under this procedure an Order cannot be amended, but merely accepted or
rejected
as a whole.