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Wood 3 JU 6- M Work (HKD)
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FUTURE OF HONG KONG : VARIOUS LEGAL ISSUES
1.
2.
I refer to paragraph 10 of my minute of 26 June 1989.
David Gladwell of LCD telephoned on Monday afternoon (26 June) to say that, in his view, the bilateral conventions with France, Belgium, the FRG, the Netherlands and Italy still remained in place for the purposes of reciprocal enforcement of judgments with Hong Kong. His reason for this was the terms of Article 56 of the Convention, the substance of which is reproduced in paragraph 5 of my minute. Mr Gladwell is of the view that "matters" includes judgments given in a dependent territory such as Hong Kong, and the enforcement of judgements of Contracting Parties (to the Brussels Convention) in a dependent territory.
3.
I am not at all sure that that is correct as a matter of law. I adhere to the view that "matters" has to be understood in the context of the Convention as a whole, and that its meaning appears quite clearly from Article 1; in other words, it refers to types of legal actions rather than legal actions in a dependent territory to which the Convention has not been extended.
4.
Be that as it may, it seems quite clear that it was never the UK's intention deliberately to exclude the dependent territories from reciprocal enforcement of judgments arrangements with the European States Parties to the Brussels Convention.
LCD and the FCO are both agreed that reciprocal enforcement arrangements exist between Hong Kong and France, Belgium, the FRG, the Netherlands and Italy, although we have different reasons for coming to that conclusion.
5.
I took the opportunity to mention to David Gladwell that we would need to think about the post 1997 position, and I told him that Mr Monk would be writing to him soon.
Mac lead.
CODE 18-77
27 June 1989
cc Mr Wood, HKD
Mr Paul, HKD Mr Monk, NTD
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Iain MacLeod Legal Advisers Kl66 270 3066