Home Office
PASSPORT DEPARTMENT
Clive House 70-78 Petty France London SW1H 9HD||
M Hill Esq
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Telephone 01-213 6497
GTN 213
Teltok (345) ро
Business Hours
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Your reference
Hong Kong Department
LONDON SW1A 2AH
Dear Mike,
HONG KONG:
PASSPORTS
Tel
зу
I owe you a reply on a number of points.
Our reference
GP/84 1/6/8
Date
18 November 1985
HITH 040/28
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
27 NOV 1985
REGISTRY Action Taken
INLEX
PA
MIN
Introduction of new format passports (Hong Kong telegram number 2110 of 9 October.
The
The Home Secretary has now written to your Secretary of State confirming that while we aim to specially produce some 500 common EC format passports (cfps) in 1987 (to be issued to Ministers, officials who regularly travel on Community business and perhaps to MEPs), we shall not be able to introduce computerisation and therefore the proper issuing of the passport until 1988. We have considered whether it might be possible to arrange the special launch of the cfp for July 1987 enabling Hong Kong then to take this as their cue for issuing the new format look-alike to BN (0)s. Initial enquiries of HMSO who would produce the documents suggest that this might just be possible. We judge, however, that it would be undesirable for the following reasons:
i) the special launch of 500 or so is an attempt to keep to the 1987 target date for introduction of the cfp which our EC partners expect us to meet. To arrange the launch for July when we do not expect to be able to follow it up with the first proper issues until the following July (and even then the work will be phased over 2 years) would make all too obvious that we had missed 1987 and that the 500 were no more than a gesture. We think it preferable to wait until later in 1987 and so minimise the delay before our first issuing office goes live;
ii) we have agreed a format for the passport to be issued to BN(0)s which has a strong resemblance to the cfp to be issued to those who are UK nationals for EC purposes. There might be some sensitivity about this in the Community (which we can cope with), but our position would not be helped if the the look-alike was to appear in numbers before the cfp; and
/(iii) we think
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