Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
ний 370/2
Telephone 01- 270 3066
JD Rennie Esq
Office of the Parliamentary Counsel
36 Whitehall
LONDON
SW1
Your reference
Our reference
Date
25 March 1988
CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILL : EXTRADITION
Thank you for copying to me your recent correspondence with David Bentley on the Criminal Justice Bill. I have some comments
1.
on the amendments attached to your letter of 21 March.
In the first place, there are no objections from FCO's point of view to the amendments for clause 1.
2.
3.
However, I think there may be a problem with the proposed amendments to the various Acts which give effect to the multilateral Conventions. Using the Taking of Hostages Act 1982 as an example, the effect of our amendments to section 3 of that Act will be to remove the present section 3(4), which is, of course, the provision which deems offences under the Act to be offences "within the jurisdiction" of the relevant State for the purposes of the 1870
Act.
4. I appreciate that no new arrangements will be made under the 1870 Act after the Bill becomes law; but will the deeming provision in the present section 3 (4) not be necessary in the future in connection with arrangments already made under the 1870 Act? In short, are we safe in repealing subsection (4), or should we not retain it and add your proposed subsection (4) as subsection (4A)?
The same comment applies mutatis mutandis to the amendments to the other Acts.
5.
6.
I also have a few very minor typographical points.
(i)
(ii)
Paragraph 44 (A)
Subsection 1 (3) ..
(2) (iv) should read "an offence under section
Paragraph 66A
Subsection (4), third word, should be "purposes".
(iii)
Paragraph 66B
Subsection (2), line 13, "as if that relevant Convention" should read "as if the relevant Convention."
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