WOZAPQ
TEXT APPROVED BY MINISTERS. PASSED TO
FAE
13/iv/89.
(FAXED TO HKG, PEKING, UKREP JLG).
SUPPLEMENTARY MEMORANDUM ON PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING THE
SINO-BRITISH JOINT DECLARATION OF 1984 ON HONG KONG
(FCO/FAC/10/89)
SUBMITTED BY THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
Enter
263
Mr McLaren
M Edwards
BL file
FAZ
нквотеричний
HKB 0/3
Article 157 of the draft Basic Law
1. The Committee might appreciate further information about the
interpretation of the Basic Law under Article 157 of the draft Basic
Law (text attached), which the Secretary of State touched on in his
oral evidence to the Committee on 22 March.
2.
Article 169 of the first draft of the Basic Law was criticised
for giving too much scope to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) to interfere in the functioning of Hong
Kong's courts. The revised draft of the relevant provision has gone
a considerable way to meeting those criticisms.
Thus,
3. It is of course necessary to make provision for the resolution
of disputes about the interpretation of the Basic Law. Since the
Basic Law will be a law enacted by the Chinese National People's Congress, it is clearly not possible to exclude that body entirely from its normal involvement in the process of interpretation. paragraph one of Article 157 provides that the power of interpretation of the Basic Law will be vested in the Standing Committee of the NPC. It is noteworthy that the Standing Committee
has the same power to interpret any other law of the PRC, including
the Constitution.
4.
However, under paragraph two of Article 157, the SAR courts, in
individual cases before them, will be authorised to interpret those
provisions of the Basic Law which fall within the range of the SAR's autonomy and will not be required to refer to the Standing Committee in this area. The majority of the Basic Law's provisions come into this category.