question of passports for British nationals without EC
rights in this light.
9. We need to ensure as far as we possibly can that
the decision does not block off the possibility of
British nationals with EC rights benefitting from less
cumbersome procedures which may be worked out in
future. Some of our partners may argue that the simple
omission of the words "European Community" would be
insufficient to enable officials to distinguish between
British nationals with EC rights and those without.
The need to make this distinction could, in theory
anyway, mean that all CFP holders, not just British,
had to be checked. This would be a complication in any
agreement on practical improvements based on the
presentation of the CFP.
10. There are therefore risks. We conclude however
that there is no alternative to issuing a CFP-style
passport without the words "European Community" to
British nationals without EC rights. The most obvious
alternatives:
(a) to issue a CFP-style passport distinguished in
some more visible way, eg, by the printing of a