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THE NATIONALITY PROVISIONS OF THE HONG KONG ACT 1985
INTRODUCTION
A DRAFT ORDER IN COUNCIL
1. 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 Hong Kong 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 agreement1. The second was that in view of the constitutional significance of the Order it should be subject to more extended Parliamentary scrutiny than the usual affirmative resolution procedure allows. Orders made under the affirmative resolution procedure require Parliament's positive approval, usually following a debate of one and a half hours, and cannot be amended, but merely accepted or rejected as a whole. It is Her Majesty's 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 Aprocedure. Her Majesty's Government will take careful note of points raised in those debates and will consider if these call for any changes to be made in the terms of the draft Order (which must of course be consistent with the Joint Declaration and the Hong Kong Act) before it is re-presented for approval.
3. Her Majesty's Government hope that the widest possible consideration will now be given to the proposals in the draft Order both in Hong Kong and in the United Kingdom. Accordingly they have arranged for this White Paper to be published simultaneously in Hong Kong. They intend to allow ample time for the public to make known their views before initiating the first debates in both Houses. To assist the process of public consideration paragraphs 4 to 7 outline the background to the provisions which the draft Order will put into effect, and paragraphs 8 to 33 provide a commentary on the draft Order itself.
BACKGROUND
4. The Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong was accompanied by an exchange of Memoranda between Her Majesty's Government and the
1 Official Report: Volume 71, Number 43, Column 735; Volume 460, Number 46, Column 484.
2 Official Report: Volume 72, Number 56, Column 1069/Volume 460, Number 46, Column
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