·
22.5.86
COUNCIL
22 May 1986
DRAFT REPLY CONCERNING THE STATUS OF HONG KONG
1.
Article XXVI:5(c) reads:
"If any of the customs territories, in respect of which a contracting party has accepted this Agreement, possesses or acquires full autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations and of the other matters provided for in this Agreement, such territory shall, upon sponsorship through
declaration by the
contracting responsible
party establishing the above-mentioned fact, be deemed to be a contracting party.'
a
TE
2. The Council decided in 1963 that admission of contracting parties under the procedures of Article XXVI: 5(c) should be carried
to certification by the Executive Secretary
the out through a effect that the conditions of Article XXVI:5(c) have been fulfilled (document C/30). Such certifications "would be brought to
notice of the Council or the CONTRACTING PARTIES when [BAT
session
that note could be taken of them and
welc a
extended to the new contracting parties".
80
United Kingdom
in
a
3. The
the Permanent Representative of Declaration circulated on 23 April 1986 in document L/5986 stated
that Hong Kong possessed full autonomy
in the conduct of its
external commercial relations and of the other matters provided for in the General Agreement. [At the Ame time as they received the document on the admission of Hong rong, contracting arties also
received communication
of from the People's Republ.
Chit..
On the basis of concerning Hong Kong's status after 1997.] Declaration by the United Kingdom, I certified in document L/5986 that the conditions of Article XXVI:5(c) had been met and that Hong
Kong had become a
A
:
racting party.
the
4. The procedure established in Article XXVI:5(c) and the Council
decision of 1 May 1963 has thus been followed.