DSR 11 (Revised)

DRAFT:

C

FROM:

nigute/letter/teleletter/despately/mate x

Mr Barrington

DEPARTMENT:

MP W Hyde, Esq

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

TO:

Top Secret

Secret

Confidential

Restricted

Unclassified

Home Office

TEL. NO:

TYPE: Draft/Final 1+

Reference

Your Reference

Copies to:

PRIVACY MARKING

CAVEAT..

..In Confidence

Enclosures-flag(s).

SUBJECT:

PASSPORT FORMAT

You wrote to me on 24 September about the

related questions of the format of passports and the issue

of passports to BN (0)s in Hong Kong.

On the first point I confirm that the second para-

graph of your letter accurately reflects the outcome of

discussions between HO and FCO officials regarding the

proposed format of passports to be issued to British.

nationals who will not qualify for the common format

passport (CFP) because they are not''United Kingdom

nationals for European Community purposes'. We shall

be submitting now to our Ministers to let them know what

is being proposed.

As regards the arrangements for the issue of passport

to BN(O)s in Hong Kong between 1 July 1987, when the new

national status is introduced, and 1 July 1997, when the

issue of passports will fall to British consular officers

I confirm that our Legal Advisers see no legal or

constitutional difficulty in the Foreign Secretary

authorising the Governor of Hong Kong to act on his behal:

in this respect. I am afraid we are not yet in a

position to submit to our Ministers on this whole issue as

the financial aspects cannot yet be finalised.

/A

Share This Page