HONG KONG
DRAFT ORDER IN COUNCIL
NOTES ON ARTICLES
TAL
ARTICLE 2: CONNECTIONS WITH HONG KONG
1.
Article 2 identifies all British Dependent Territories
citizens (BDTCs) who are such by virtue of a connection with
Hong Kong. But it does not follow that everybody who falls
within Article 2 is necessarily a BDTC: some may have renounced
others may not have acquired it in the first
place. The Order has no affect at all on such people. By virtue
of Article 3 it can apply only to people who are BDTCs on 3 June
1997 by virtue of any connection mentioned in Article 2.
their BDTC status:
2.
Article 2 fulfils the provision in paragraph 2(1)(a) of the
Schedule to the Hong Kong Act 1985. This provides that the Order
in Council may bake provision whereby British Dependent Territori citizenship cannot be retained or acquired on or after 1 July
1997 by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong..
3.
Article 2(1) defines those people who are to be taken as having a connection with Hong Kong for the purposes of the Order Because of the variety of ways in which a person may have become a BDTC it is not sufficient simply to refer in the Order to "a connection with Hong Kong" without saying precisely what such a connection may be. The Article therefore defines the ways in
It which a person may have become connected with Hong Kong. encompasses all the Hong Kong BDTCs listed in Annex 2 to the
White Paper (copy attached).
4.
/
Article 2(1)(a) brings within the Order BDTCs born, naturalised or registered in Hong Kong or found abandoned there as newborn infants or their children. Anyone born in Hong Kong before 1983, or naturalised or registered there before that date became a BDTC on 1 January 1983 under section 23 of the British Nationality Act 1981. Article 2(1)(a) read in conjunction with Article 2(3) is so framed as to ensure that a BDTC born in Hong Kong on or after 1 January 1983 will not lose his BDTC status in 1997 if neither parent is at the time of the birth settled in Hong Kong or a Hong Kong BDTC. For example, a child born in Hong