+
CONFIDENTIAL Tox PRIORITY
HONG KONG
INFO ROUTINE
1
PEKING,
PRIORITY UKREP
YOUR TELNO 2678: LOCALISATION OF LAWS: CAN LAPSE ITEMS
TG HONG
1. We are content with your draft speaking note and with the list of "can lapse" items.
2. We have been giving some preliminary thought to the question of how exactly these Acts and Orders will "lapse". While Acts which have been applied to Hong Kong form part of the law of Hong Kong, such law probably does not survive the change of sovereignty in 1997. The Basic Law, Article 8 does not appear to allow for the survival of such law (incidentally, subordinate legislation in that Article probably means legislation made under Ordinance). For the avoidance of doubt, in respect of those Acts which have been applied to Hong Kong by Order in Council, the relevant Order may have to be revoked so that the Act will cease to apply after 1997. This could perhaps be done collectively either under the Hong Kong Act 1985, Schedule paragraph 3 read with paragraph 1 or individually under the powers conferred by the particular parent Act (a very time-consuming exercise). On the other hand, these Orders in Council probably do not need revocation because subordinate legislation becomes spent when it ceases to have effect. Revocation of the Orders is desirable for avoidance of doubt but an important factor is the size of the problem ie how many Acts and Orders fall into the "can lapse" category. We would be grateful for your comments.
3. In the meantime it would be most helpful to have a list of all the Orders in Council (including dates and statutory instrument numbers) for all the Acts on the "can lapse" list which have been applied to Hong Kong by Order in Council. Please send this list to Marshall, HKD.
KONG
loc. Lap
Doco O
CONFIDENTIAL
18
110440 MDLOAN 2278
CONFIDENTIAL
FM FCO
TO PRIORITY HONG KONG
TELNO 1661
OF 261745Z NOVEMBER 92
INFO ROUTINE PEKING
нис
INFO PRIORITY UKREP JLG HONG KONG
320/7Q DIST?
TOP COPY
pa
YOUR TELNO 2678: LOCALISATION OF LAWS: CAN LAPSE ITEMS
1. We are content with your draft speaking note and with the List of 'can Lapse'' items.
2. We have been giving some preliminary thought to the question While Acts of how exactly these Acts and Orders will ''Lapse''. which have been applied to Hong Kong form part of the law of Hong Kong, such law probably does not survive the change of sovereignty in 1997. The Basic Law, Article 8 does not appear to allow for the survival of such Law (incidentally, subordinate Legislation in that Article probably means legislation made under Ordinance). For the avoidance of doubt, in respect of those Acts which have been applied to Hong Kong by Order in Council, the relevant Order may have to be revoked so that the Act will cease to apply after 1997. This could perhaps be done collectively either under the Hong Kong Act 1985, Schedule, paragraph 3 read with paragraph 1 or individually under the powers conferred by
On the particular parent Act (a very time-consuming exercise). the other hand, these Orders in Council probably do not need revocation because subordinate legislation becomes spent when it ceases to have effect. Revocation of the Orders is desirable for avoidance of doubt but an important factor is the size of the problem ie how many Acts and Orders fall into the 'can Lapse'' category. We would be grateful for your comments.
3. In the meantime it would be most helpful to have a list of all the Orders in Council (including dates and statutory instrument numbers) for all the Acts on the 'can lapse'' list which have been applied to Hong Kong by Order in Council. send this list to Marshall, HKD.
HURD
Please
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