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national networks.
But the burgeoning of international
telecommunications in recent years has led to a need for special bilateral arrangements. For example, the US may also wish to enter into such arrangements with Hong Kong. (The UK currently has in place similar arrangements with both the US and Japan).
The Hong
Kong Government is keen to be covered by such arrangements, in line with their policy of encouraging competition in services such as IVANS which fall outside the scope of current exclusive
telecommunications franchises.
4. Article 31 of the International Telecommunications Convention (Nairobi 1982) deals with special arrangements of this kind. It provides for members to authorise "other
agencies" to enter into such arrangements which do not
concern members in general. Section 9.1 of the International Telecommunications Regulations contained in the Final Acts of the 1988 World Administrative Telephone and Telegraph Conference, pursuant to Article 31, will implement this provision in detail. These Regulations do not come into force until 1 July 1990 but in the meantime, Article 31 provides an appropriate framework for the UK to designate Hong Kong as such an agency.
5. Hong Kong already enjoys considerable autonomy in the field of
international telecommunications. Accordingly, the draft entrustment is framed in such a way that it enables the Hong Kong Government not only to conclude the arrangements with Japan but to conclude any further special arrangements, within the meaning of Article 31 (or the subsequent Regulations), for example a similar arrangement with the US.
6.
The terms of the entrustment also reflect the provisions of the Joint Declaration (JD 134) which specifically provide for Hong Kong to conclude and implement international agreements on communications
after 1997.
Aloja
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