being indefinitely for the purpose of extradition in the narrow
range of cases to which they apply.
We should therefore like amendments to these provisions along the
following lines. I use the Taking of Hostages Act as an example.
To the reference to an arrangement under the 1870 Act there
should be added a reference to a general arrangement under Part I
of the Bill. Section 3 (3) would then provide that where neither
of these kinds of arrangements with a foreign State exists, an
Order in Council may be made under clause 2(1) applying Part I as
between the UK and that State as if the Convention were an
extradition arrangement, but only in
in respect of offences of
hostage-taking and attempts. Such an Order should not be able to
disapply the prima facie requirement (clause 5(8)(a)).
There is some awkwardness here, which FCO Legal Advisers have
previously mentioned, in So far as we should be treating an
international convention as not being a "general arrangement".
Thought not "general" in the sense that it does not apply to a
wide range of offences, such a convention is plainly "general" as
distinct from "special" in the sense in which that latter
expression is used in Part I.
I think to meet this we need an expression like "general
arrangement other than a convention arrangement." "A convention
arrangement" would then be defined as a general arrangement under
any of the relevant conventions.